Tenants leasing water lots from Port Metro Vancouver could be looking at a compromise as port officials say they are open to discussing possible reductions in lease rates after some tenants complained the increases were unreasonable.
Heather Courville, director of real estate for the port, said that Port Metro Vancouver will take the concerns of tenants into consideration when preparing new lease agreements.
"We will discuss with them their concerns, relevant factors that influence the market rent based on the unique features of their site and, if there is good reason and a merit in doing a reassessment of the review we've landed, we will review as necessary," she said.
But this doesn't mean that in all cases the tenants will receive a reduction or new lease agreement.
"We try to maintain market objectivity when we are establishing rent," she said.
Courville explained in some cases in New Westminster, they've gone back to review the increases and discovered they were above average.
"We've taken a look at what the actual water lot calculation came out at and assessed whether or not it was higher than what the median is, and because it was we've decided to adjust down," she said.
Ron Francis, who owns a marina in Queensborough, was one of the tenants approached by the port. The port invited Francis to meet with his representative to discuss the possibility of lowering his lease.
"They're bullies," he said. "They don't know what they're doing. They're wrong. Their method is wrong."
Francis is upset over the way the port has treated him and other small marina owners. He said his port representative hasn't come down to his marina to see it, rather they do everything via email, using aerial photos of the marina and surrounding land.
"You can't do what (the port tries) to do from an aerial photo, you have to be on the job," he said.
Francis was one about 40 leaseholders who attended a Waterlot Leaseholder's Association of B.C. meeting last Friday. Members were urged to contact local politicians to help pressure the port into changing its system of appraisal.
Francis said he'll meet with Burnaby-New Westminster MP, Peter Julian in May to discuss his problems with the port.
If the meeting doesn't bring about some change, or a large reduction in his $33,000 annual lease, Francis said he'll be shutting down his marina, which currently rents out space to 20 boats.
The association's president, Dorothy Leighton - manager of High Water Marina in East Richmond - was another tenant the port negotiated with. According to Courville, the port reexamined Leighton's rent and found that it was above average, therefore worthy of a lease review.
In a March 27 article, The Record reported the average lease was about $40,000 based on a $1 million zonal value, but this isn't the case, Courville said. Instead it comes to about $30,000, or one-third of the zonal value, after usage of the space has been factored in, she said. Float homes are worth 100 per cent of the value, while small boats and access routes are worth less, sometimes even as low as 10 per cent of the value.
The port decided Leighton's lease was higher than the median and she was offered a new agreement, which she has yet to accept.
Leighton said she didn't feel it was as amicable as described and only after pestering was she able to sit down with port officials.
"What's so unfair about it is that they're going to do a deal with me . but 50, 60, 80, 100 other people have not made a fuss and they've been charged," she said.
Courville said the port prefers to deal with tenants one-on-one as lease agreements are private matters.
Courville said when Port Metro Vancouver took over from Fraser Port Authority in 2008, they found many of the leases were set to 1995 zonal value assessments, which is why many new rates are so high.
In the New Westminster and Richmond areas there are about 42 tenants leasing water lots from the port and about 80 per cent of them have signed and are paying the new rent, Courville said.
