Docktown Managers Leave, City Takes Over Operations

The management of Redwood City's Docktown Marina has left the building - literally.

Redwood City Community Development Coordinator Bill Ekern told Patch on Monday that the company that used to manage all of Docktown's residents and the Peninsula Yacht Club closed up shop and left the property on Feb. 28, leaving residents without a landlord.

Ekern said, that's when the city stepped in.

"The Docktown Marina operators left the site, so the city is having to step in and manage the waterside marina," he said. "They left the site Feb. 28, and we took over on March 1st."

The water that flows through Docktown Marina is owned by the city, as the State Lands Commission granted the creek to the City several decades ago, Ekern explained. The land, however, is owned in partnership between two entities - a family trust called The Salaman Trust, and a limited-liability company (LLC) called Downtown CD-R.

Though the city considered purchasing Docktown Marina in 2011, it was ultimately decided against by the City Council members at the time. Reasons given at the time included a concern of dipping too much into the city's general fund, and deciding to focus more on downtown development.

Ekern said, at Monday night's city council meeting, the city will take the next step in voting to approve an ordinance that will allow the city to set up a special account to accept rent checks from Docktown residents and pay the necessary bills and expenses involved in the marina's up-keep.

When asked if the city's new landlord arrangement could become a permanent one, Ekern said, he hopes that, at some point, a new private entity or management company will eventually take it back over.

"We hope the marina can go back and be operated privately in some way, shape or form, at some point," he said, after the city has straightened out the current finances and administrative matters on the table, as well as doing "some clean-up," he said.

Ekern said the possibility of a developer coming in and purchasing the land from The Salaman Trust and the LLC and developing it is still that - a possibility. Issues to work out, however, include maintaining access to the city-owned water where several live-aboard and floating residents still live, and making sure that all stakeholders are advised of the process well ahead of time.

The city council will discuss the issue, as well as the current status of the city's Inner Harbor Precise Plan, at tonight's meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1017 Middlefield Road. Portions of the evening's agenda are set aside for public comment.

What do you think of the current Docktown Marina situation? Tell us in the comments below.

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