Council to have river panel work on Ellis Harbor budget

CEDAR RAPIDS - The City Council has accepted a report on the future needs of Ellis Harbor from a marina consultant who recommends that the city move the harbor community across the Cedar River, to a cove on the east bank, at a cost of $5.8 million.

In the process, the council said it would ask the River Recreation Commission, where many of the members have boat houses in the harbor, to work on a budget for the harbor.

The commission this month rejected the recommendation of the consultant, Edgewater Resources of St. Joesph, Mich., in favor of keeping the harbor as is and working on making repairs to it over time.

Greg Waykamp, principal at Edgewater, this week told the council that at the very least the city should establish just how much it subsidizes the harbor each year so officials and harbor tenants finally can agree on the matter.

Waykamp's view is that the current lease structure - most of the owners of the 130 or so cabinlike boat houses in the harbor pay $380 a year - doesn't pay the harbor costs and should be increased to $500 to $550 a year. But that increase covers just the city's operating cost, he said, and does nothing about the need to make $4.75 million in repairs at the harbor to keep it as it is.

In the short run, the city will be required to make repairs by March 15 so access to the community of boat houses and a smaller number of slips for houseboats comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Waykamp said.

An old debate among council members surfaced during Tuesday's meeting. Pat Shey and Tom Podzimek said Ellis Harbor was more of a private community with little public access, while Don Karr, whose family has had boat houses there, argued that it was a city-provided public recreational option that, like golf courses, wasn't for everybody.