Boaties dredge up bile over marina charges

Chris Gedye warns that dredging costs at Westpark Marina may fall on ratepayers. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Owners of berths at one of Auckland's biggest marinas plan to revolt against a $20 million dredging bill and say the cost could fall back on the region's ratepayers.

Chris Gedye, the Westpark Marina Users Association chairman, said boats were sitting on the mud at low tide.

A backlog in the dredging programme for the Upper Waitemata Harbour marina could cost $19.8 million to clear. That meant a contribution from the 590 berth-owners averaging $33,560 each.

But with berths being traded for $5000 to $6000 each, many berth-owners believed the dredging costs made their tenure uneconomic.

"No one in their right mind will spend $33,000 when berth licences come up for renewal for a further 20 years.

"People say they are just going to walk away from it because it would be cheaper to rent berths in other marinas."

Mr Gedye said the private marina's owner and operator, Westpark Marina, would be left with the huge dredging bill.

"It won't pay for it all and then they will come to the Waitakere City Council, Auckland Regional Council and the Crown, because it's probably $20 million to find."

Westpark Marina was the least desirable of those in the harbour, he said. It would become empty and the council would have an eyesore on its hands in the West Harbour area of $1 million homes.

Berth-owners accepted some of the dredging cost, Mr Gedye said, but the company should meet a significant proportion of it.

The public also used the marina and a contribution to dredging costs should also be made by the ARC and the Crown.

The marina company held a seabed sub-licence granted by the Waitakere City Council, which in turn received its rights from the Crown as owner of the seabed.

The licence fee was collected by the ARC, which gave the city council 10 per cent - about $12,600 a year - and kept the rest.

The company, which changed hands for $12 million only 18 months ago, had city council approval to renew the seabed licence for a further 20 years, on the condition that Westpark Marina fulfils its licence obligations.

Mr Gedye said it was inappropriate for the licence to be renewed because the company's failure over dredging was in breach of terms with berth-holders.

Westpark Marina general manager Russell Mathieson said 11 years' dredging could not keep up with "mud waves" coming into the marina from Henderson Creek.
"Westpark is the worst silted marina in Australasia, with about 40 tonnes a day of silt coming in."

Dredging stopped in May 2003 when machinery became unavailable and permits to dump dredgings at sea were not renewed.

The company was trying to find a replacement dredging contractor and to find an appropriate disposal site on land so it could undertake a $1.2 million project this year - already levied from berth-holders.

But that was not enough to take the marina berths back to their original depth; that would be done in the backlog dredging proposal.

Mr Mathieson said berth-holders were upset about more than dredging issues. They also had to pay for a huge increase in the seabed rents for the marina charged by the ARC - from $32,560 a year to $128,500 a year.

ARC coastal resources manager Hugh Leersnyder said Westpark berth-holders had paid just $50 each towards the seabed licence for many years. That had been increased to $214 each by the first rental review since 1985.

Berth-holders at Half Moon Bay Marina paid $400 each.

Adding to Westpark berth-holders' woes was a $250,000 bill to pay for ARC costs in negotiations over the rent review.

The company passed that cost on to boaties as operating costs, in addition to its management fee.