MYH - Katrina Update

John Manard (President - Crescent City Boat Owner’s Association, L.L.C. (CCBOA))and other CCBOA Board Members have been diligent in acquiring some of the information that all of you have been asking for.

We will be sending out more information as we get it.

Please send your updated contact information or if you know of someones contact information that has changed please send it to MYHtenant@yahoo.com

Carl Robinson is no longer employed as the Harbor Master. Mr. Melson (Director of Property Management) has retained the MYH's carpenter, security guard, electrician, and accountant who are all back to work.

The City was asked by CCBOA to reconsider the concept of sending out bills while the harbor is largely unusable. Below is the most recent response from Nicole Webre, Legislative Aide for Councilman Jay Batt. (11-9-05)

“No bills will be sent out for boathouses and boat slip leases. Ted Melson (Director of Property Management) agrees that people should not be billed. Councilman Jay Batt will send memo to Dr. Hatfield, CAO, to request that boathouses and boatslips are not billed until they can be used.” - Nicole Webre, Legislative Aide for Councilman Jay Batt. (11-9-05)

Below is a memo that was sent to Boathouse owners before the above request was made. (Note: Boat Slip tenants need only read item 4)

Dear Boathouse Owners:

According to Ted Melson, Director of Property Management:
1.) The National Guard is stationed to monitor the boathouses.
2.) Public Works is removing debris from Lakeshore and Roadway Drives and patching streets where sections of the road were destroyed.
3.) After "visual inspections" red stickers were placed on the boathouses which means enter at your own risk. He made a point of emphasizing that demolition of the boathouses is not the case and is not being considered. Shaw Group is heading up assessments of the pilings, roofs, lake bottoms, etc of the boathouses with leasehold agreements with the city to determine whether they are safe to rebuild on or need structural repairs. Mr. Melson stressed that this is being done for the safety of the boathouse owners to ensure that the structures are safe since these boathouses are situated completely within and upon city-owned property. According to Mr. Melson, the assessment of the approximately 130 boathouses is expected to be completed by the end of this week and Mr. Melson stated that until the assessment is completed there is a hold on the issuance of building permits for boathouses to ensure that owners are not renovating boathouses that require structural repairs.
In addition to Safety and Permits, FEMA is assessing the issue of lower floor areas that are below the flood elevation and are enclosed. (For your review, I have copied and pasted below Sec. 170-646 of the New Orleans Code of Ordinances as it pertains to the Construction, Alteration and Remodeling of boathouses.)
4.) Payment of boathouse leasehold agreements and boat slips leases- According to Mr. Melson, each boathouse owner and boat slip tenant will mail a bill for this quarter. Payment should be mailed to the address listed or can be delivered in person at the Property Management office on the 5th floor of City Hall. Carl Robinson is no longer the harbor master, but Mr. Melson has retained the MYH's carpenter, security guard, electrician, and accountant who are all back to work.

J. Nicole Webre
Legislative Aide, District "A"

Sec. 170-646. Construction, alteration and remodeling of boathouses.
(a) No boathouse or other structure shall be constructed within the area of the municipal yacht harbor without prior approval of the council of the City of New Orleans.
(b) Before the commencement of any work in the alterations or addition to any existing boathouse, application by the lessee of a permit therefore shall be made to the director of the department of property management or his designee, accompanied by the full plans and specifications therefore. Such plans and specifications must comply with the standards for commercial construction.
The director of the department of property management or his designee shall upon due consideration report thereon within 45 days of the lessee's application with his recommendations as to what changes, if any, are necessary to comply with the requirements of the terms of the lease, the uniform standards hereinafter set out in subparagraph (c), and the regulations of the municipal yacht harbor by the director of the department of safety and permits to comply reasonably with the requirements of this section, and if such application and intended work shall conform also to all other regulations, ordinances and laws of the city, a permit for such work shall be issued. The permit shall indicate the extent and nature of the work to be performed thereunder.
If the director of the department of property management or his designee fails to make a report within 45 days of the lessee's application, such application will be deemed tacitly approved and the lessee may directly submit the application and the accompanying plans and specifications to the director of the department of safety and permits who shall thereafter act in accordance with paragraph (b) of this section.
(c) It is the intent of these standards to issue that the subject boathouse structures, situated completely within and upon city-owned property, and which boathouses shall become the property of the City of New Orleans, upon the termination of the leases, shall not be altered or added to in any manner which shall interfere with or reduce the capability of such boathouse to serve its original and prime purpose--to house medium to large size motor yachts or to maintain a boatslip with a minimum 40-foot depth. It is further intended that the exterior of these structures, as at the time of erection, shall be maintained so as to present a uniform appearance, by groups in a general area if not in total. To carry out these intentions, the following uniform standards are established:
(1) First floor (boat level) enclosed area. No lessee of a boathouse shall enclose any area on the first floor level beyond 40 feet from the original boathouse front wall.
(2) First floor catwalk or deck. An open deck if constructed across the enclosed area on the first floor level must be within 40 feet from the original boathouse front wall. Catwalks along the length of the boathouses (between every two houses) shall not exceed two feet six inches in width and may be erected lenghtwise on each side and extend to the end of each boathouse.
(3) Second floor catwalk or deck. The lessee of a boathouse shall not construct an enclosed area or open deck on the second floor level beyond 40 feet from the original front wall of the boathouse unless the lessee obtains the written consent of the adjoining boathouse lessee and the director of the department of property management or his designee.
(4) Second floor catwalk or deck. The open rear deck if constructed must be included within the allowed 40 feet from the original boathouse front wall of a boathouse. No structure of any kind shall be erected at the second floor level beyond this 40 feet line in any boathouse unless the lessee obtains the written consent of the adjoining boathouse lessee and the director of the department of property management or his designee.
(5) Boathouse roof line. The roof line of the boathouse may be elevated to 48 inches above the original site elevation as is recorded in the harbor master's office and based upon the National Geodetic Vertical Datum relative to N.G.S. Monument X-374 located on the grounds of the U.S. Coast Guard, New Basin Canal Station.
(6) Open deck in front of boathouse. No lessee of a boathouse shall erect on the front side of the boathouse an open deck that extends beyond 20 feet from the original boathouse front wall. In no event shall such open deck extend beyond the seawall adjacent to boathouses on N. Roadway. All such structures shall be steel supported. An opensided roof structure may be constructed over such deck not to extent beyond 12 feet from the original boathouse front wall.
(7) Enclosed deck in front of boathouse. No lessee of a boathouse fronting on Breakwater Drive shall enclose an open deck unless the lessee obtains the written consent of the adjacent boathouse lessee and the director of the department of property management or his designee. In any event, the enclosed area may not exceed 12 feet from the original boathouse front wall.
(d) In order to avoid a hazard to navigation, no vessel shall be moored in such a manner as to project beyond the end of a boathouse, nor shall any boat be moored across the end of an outside of a boathouse.
(M.C.S., Ord. No. 19,202, § 1, 4-8-99)