St. Petersburg voters will be asked to weigh in on five ballot questions this election, including one that would authorize a 30-year lease with Harborage Marina, paving the way for more than $2 million in expected investment.
Tampa Bay Times Chair and CEO Conan Gallaty and Viewpoints Editor and columnist Graham Brink are calling the referendum, No. 2 on the St. Petersburg ballot, “a classic win-win.”
If approved, the new 30-year lease with Harborage Marina would pave the way for 200 linear feet of new docks and boat lifts, and would add new restrooms to the marina.
The official ballot language would require Harborage Marina “to construct new improvements at no cost to the city.” What’s more, the city retains ownership of all improvements once the lease expires.
The marina is located in Bayboro Harbor, near the USF St. Petersburg campus. The referendum would add eight years to Harborage Marina’s existing lease, which has 22 years left on it.
The Times recommendation is based on what Gallaty and Brink essentially describe as a no-brainer.
“Harborage can finance improvements. The city gets a better marina — and more money,” the pair wrote, recommending readers to “vote ‘yes’ on this one.”
The recommendation correctly lays out the details of the referendum, which places financial burden and risk on Harborage, all while guaranteeing city ownership. The total investment is expected to be $2.15 million, and the city estimates that the new upgrades would boost the city’s rent revenue by $4.5 million over 30 years. Last fiscal year, its annual lease contribution to the city was $671,000.
Some might ask why the extended lease is necessary. What can Harborage Marina do in 30 years that it cannot in 22? Gallaty and Brink lay out the answer. Simply put, for the marina operator to invest millions into a project, it would like a longer lease to ensure that investment is protected.
No business would ever agree to fund improvements to property it doesn’t own if there’s not a return on investment. Those extra eight years provide at least some assurance one will be realized.
And then there’s this — Harborage Marina has been the marina operator since assuming the lease in 1999.
That means Harborage Marina has a 27-year history with the city. Further evidencing its value, Harborage Marina has had its initial lease amended once, which voters approved in 2004; entered into a new lease in 2007; and had that lease amended five times for various improvement projects, including in 2018 to provide the current 30-year lease, expand the marina’s footprint and construct a new 200-foot dock.
What does that mean? It means voters have already weighed in on Harborage Marina’s work and given their seal of approval twice.
Gallaty and Brink are telling voters they should do it again.
For a down-ballot initiative unlikely to receive much attention amid much larger fights further up the ballot, their recommendation might be the only push voters need.