Marina Parking Situation

[TacomaSailor]

We live aboard in a beautiful 600-slip marina on Harbor Island, San Diego. The island is a destination for many tourists. Our end of the island has two large and busy restaurants and an active shore fishing community. Our marina has several dozen-charter boat operations and two sailing clubs with at least 70-boats.

The marina has about 500 parking spaces and until this week, 300 of those spaces were behind a gate operated by an access card and thus reserved for marina tenants. The marina has tried, with limited success, to make boat mechanics, divers, cleaners, guests of tenants, and charter guests use the 200 parking spaces outside the gate. They also lease those spaces to long term renters who have no business with the marina.

There are only 15 free street parking spots on this end (3/4 of a mile) of the island.

It is almost impossible to find a parking space within 50-yards of our dock gate on any spring, summer, fall afternoon, Friday thru Sunday.

Starting on Wednesday, October 14 every parking space will be open to the general public at a cost of $4 for the first hour, $6 for the 2nd, $8 for the 3rd, and $10 for the day with no limit on the parking duration.

The marina has leased the parking lot to a national parking lot management firm and their onsite manager told me that marina tenants would receive no special consideration or priority parking. When the parking lots fill up, gate is controlled by sophisticated and new installed computerized card readers and ticket generators, we TENANTS will be denied access to the lot just like any potential customer off the street.

Our 40-slip dock alone generates 80 to 100 charter guest trips a day, Thursday thru Sunday during the June to November period. Those guests will arrive in 30 to 50 cars trying to find parking near our gate, which serves 180 slips including three boat B&Bs, 18-charter boats, a sailing club, and three sailing schools.

The restaurants that are 100-yards down the road generate an enormous amount of auto traffic and charge $8 + tip for valet parking. The valet line is never shorter than 10-customers, so it will be cheaper and quicker for a restaurant patron to park in our lot and walk down to the restaurant.

Our parking lot is only a 10-minute walk from the main San Diego airport and the $10/day parking fee is only half the cost of the next cheapest parking within two miles of the airport.

And, just to make it special – tenants now have to pay $30/month for a parking pass.

Is it a common situation for the parking at a very nice private marina to be open to the general public with no spaces reserved for tenants?

I have never encountered a similar marina parking situation and wonder if it is a normal thing to make marina tenants, we pay $1,025 per month for our slip, compete with tourists, guests, charter/rental customers for their dockside parking?

How many other marinas charge a fee for a parking pass? Is that a normal thing?