$4 million from city to build marina wave break coming to committee June 4

At Committee of the Whole June 4, council will be discussing a proposal to spend $4 million to install a floating wavebreak at LaSalle Park Marina to protect boats from storm damage. The city would build and pay for the wavebreak, and collect an annual fee from the LaSalle Park Marina Association to go towards replacement of the wavebreak in roughly 30 years. The cost of amortizing a loan over this period is $133,000 annually. The LPMA is not in a financial position in the short term to fully support this cost, while setting aside funds for their own renewal needs. This represents a financial gap to the city in renewing this asset.An alternative proposal is to wind up the marina, while maintaining the Able Sail and Burlington Sailing and Boating Club sailing lessons. The Hamilton Port Authority is agreeable to receiving boaters from Burlington.Read the staff report: LaSalle Park Marina next steps, and Appendix ARegister to delegate when this item comes to Committee of the Whole, June 4, 1pm: DelegateMy Take: I support maintaining a marina function here, and have always preferred a floating wavebreak to the proposed permanent rock wall. But I don't support providing the full $4 million cost at taxpayers expense, which is roughly $18,200 per boat, according to the staff report. When wavebreak discussions started, the city was told there would not be a request for city funding. The conversation we are having now about whether to have a marina and what the city contribution should be, should have happened when this project first came forward. This would have allowed time to fundraise for the project, which is how other community infrastructure is partly funded, or seek upper level government grants.The annual payments should be used to repay the $4 million cost, and over the next 30 years the marina can fundraise or adjust rates to save for a replacement wavebreak.