City officials on Wednesday will consider a proposal that could more than double the slip rents for liveboard residents of City Marina on Garrison Bight and thus displace many longtime working and retired locals.
Members of the Key West Live-Aboard Association (KWLA), known as the “Sea Dogs,” are calling for public support in opposing the crippling rent hikes at the Wednesday, June 4 city commission meeting — and have already received several letters of written support that individuals and civic groups have sent to city officials for inclusion in Wednesday’s agenda packet.
“The increases will push out numerous working-class people, seniors and families in favor of high-dollar yachts and out-of-town owners,” KWLA founding member Joe Miccio, a retired New York City firefighter and 9/11 first responder said in a press release about the upcoming vote.
He emphasized that City Marina at Garrison Bight is designated by the state as a “public purpose” marina deeded to the city for free by the state of Florida. The marina generates 20–30% profits annually and has accumulated $5.6 million in cash infrastructure reserves, Miccio said.
Discussions of potential rent increases for liveaboard slips, as well as other categories of use, such as commercial boat slips and transient slips at City Marina have been ongoing since 2023.
In 2024, the city’s port and marine director commissioned a $25,000 market rate study to determine fair market rents for the liveboard tenants at City Marina. The study proposed rent hikes that would more than double rents for liveaboard residents.
But in reading the study results and its proposed increases, Miccio and others drafted a 21-page response of the market study and a deeply researched rebuttal to the report, which stated that City Marina was comparable to other high-end, upscale marinas such as The Galleon, The Perry Marina and Stock Island Yacht Club, all of which offer swimming pools, restaurants, bars and other amenities. And none of which allow floating homes to rent slips, thereby dispelling the notion of comparability.
“The appraiser reports incorrectly that comparison marinas have “equal utility” and “similar use” to Garrison Bight. However …management from comparison marinas report: Floating homes and most houseboat types are not allowed in their marinas, and year-round rentals are totally prohibited in one of them,” Miccio writes in his rebuttal, adding, “Swimming pools were stated as “None” for comparison marinas with swimming pools. Private beaches were omitted from comparison charts of marinas with private beaches. It reports that Garrison Bight’s location is “similar to the in-town location” of The Galleon Marina in Old Town Historic Harbor — one of the most valuable locations in Key West.”
In addition, Miccio outlines the significant financial errors in the market study, which omits any reference to the mandatory reservation fee that all liveaboard tenants must pay up front to reserve their slip. That nonrefundable fee is $5,000 or 4% of the vessel’s purchase price, whichever is greater.
“Plus, if the tenant adds another person to the lease after signing — such as a spouse, parent, child or sibling — another $5,000 fee is charged by the City,” Miccio points out. “Shockingly, the Market Rate Study makes zero reference to these nonrefundable $5,000 to $16,000 fees (depending on vessel price), nor the $5,000 add-a-person fee in the Garrison Bight lease — or that the comparison marinas DO NOT charge these fees. These huge omissions skew the market rate cost comparisons significantly and bring into serious question the validity of the Market Rate Study.”
Current liveaboard residents are seeking a grandfather status to keep their current rent amounts, with the usual CPI increases.
“City Marina at Garrison Bight management projects live-aboard turnover rate to be approximately 8 to 18% annually. …This will result in tens of thousands of dollars in annual revenue increases within the first year and will grow into hundreds of thousands of extra dollars annually after just a few years, ultimately generating millions for City Marina at Garrison Bight in perpetuity. This is on top of the millions that will be generated by rent increases from other categories of renters sought by the Port Director’s office,” Miccio’s rebuttal states.
The commission will discuss and perhaps decide on the future of the liveaboard marina community at the Wednesday, June 4 meeting, which starts at 5 p.m. at city hall.
