Cathy Salustri
Gulfport City Council took the first step to authorize a new contract with the Boca Ciega Yacht Club.
After tabling the matter in March, the council approved the ordinance’s first reading at its May 16 meeting.
Mayor Sam Henderson voted in favor along with vice mayor Paul Ray and council member Christine Brown. Ian O’Hara and April Thanos voted in opposition.
The BCYC will pay $2,000 per month under the three-year lease, which has no automatic renewal. The previous lease expired at the end of 2020, and was extended on a month-to-month basis.
The club and the City agreed on all aspects of the deal except one.
“Issues were resolved, other than the area that lies east of the building, approximately 22 by 150 feet,” said City Manager Jim O’Reilly. “The City’s position is that the area is open and it is not exclusive use. The Boca Ciega Yacht Club’s request was to have exclusive use of that area.”
City Attorney Andrew Salzman concurred.
“That was the only outstanding issue,” Salzman said.
Mayor Goes Farther Than Planned
Henderson, Ray and Brown were emphatic about keeping the area in question open to the public.
“We talked about opening this up to give more access to the public — to sit along the seawall and fish, which is something I can see people doing,” said Ray. “Otherwise, that little strip along the south side of the lift is all people would get off that side of the seawall.”
Brown pointed out that leaving the area open to the public would not penalize the club in any way.
“Whatever we decide, you can use the 22 feet,” she told the members in attendance. “It doesn’t mean you can’t use it; it just means everyone else can, which is a very important point to make.”
Henderson acknowledged that the compromise reached was more than he had initially been willing to make.
“What I’d envisioned was just the building for the life of that building, the walkways that lead to that building, outdoor features like the patio, and a portion of the parking spaces,” he said, adding that the option the club favored “goes against every single thing I was looking to do in terms of returning public land to the public.”
O’Hara supported the club’s preferred plan without any further comment. Thanos also favored that plan.
“I think people, if they want to be fishing along the seawall or whatever, can just go right to the other side of the canal and fish all over Clam Bayou,” she said. “Or they can go down by the beach and fish if they want to. I think that it’s impractical and not safe [to leave the space open], and it doesn’t make sense.”
BCYC Turns Out for Meeting
Club members filled most of the seats in the council chambers. Jen Buckley spoke on their behalf, identifying herself as the current commodore. More than 20 people stood as she began her remarks, and almost all of them raised their hands when asked to identify themselves as Gulfport residents. She later said at least 38% of the total membership are city residents.
Buckley said the club had concerns about the area along the seawall being open to the public. She cited safety and liability.
“We’re concerned about it being open and the security of the items that are left on the property,” she said. “We’ve got sheds and equipment. Everything is as locked down as it can possibly be. However, there are enterprising souls out there who think that if it isn’t actually glued to the ground, it’s fair game.”
Buckley added that the club’s Sea Scouts and youth sailing programs are also factors in concerns about public access.
Brown said the club’s building is “one named storm away from being gone. If something happens to the roof, you can’t replace anything. You’ve got to do a whole teardown.”
Saying that expanding marina access has always been her goal, Brown reiterated her desire for the city to start thinking in that direction.
“We tried to ask you about this a few years ago, and it was completely shunned,” she said to the club members. “We thought that would be a starting point to having a sailing center where everybody could be connected and have a space — and, most importantly, the other 12,000 people in Gulfport could come, too. And it’s not like we want to kick you out. We want to give you a brand-new building. That was not taken very well.”
Looking to the Future
She asked the club members to be open to a future project that would be open to all city residents.
“The people up in Paul’s ward probably don’t come down here, and aren’t here tonight because they think they’re not allowed,” she said. “But it’s public land and I’d like everybody to be able to come.”
Henderson said he doesn’t buy the argument that the open seawall is a safety issue. He cited other locations in the city that are similar.
“The point is, if you can still use that land but you have exclusive use, you’re not allowing others to use that land,” he said. “I’m not willing to give any more land away for that, especially for a lease that is less than many people’s mortgage on a monthly basis.”
Brown and Henderson both said they recognize the good things the club has done over the years. The mayor added that he still had a bad taste regarding how past litigation went.
Immediately after the vote, O’Reilly said he would place the second reading on the June 6 meeting agenda.
For more about this council meeting, click here.
