Seattle Press on Line - Floating Homes Association Celebrates 40th Anniversary

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Floating Homes Association Celebrates 40th Anniversary

By Jo Bailey and Carl Nyberg

May 09, 2002 -- They live on the waters of Lake Union and Portage Bay and consider themselves a unique floating community, those who inhabit the 485 houseboats lining the shores. At one time over 1,000 houseboats were moored here, but over the years the number dwindled.

Last month more than 100 members of the Floating Homes Association (FHA) got together for a 40th Anniversary meeting with a rousing evening of discussion. On the agenda were executive committee elections, liveaboard law, results of a poll, noise from rowing crews before 7 a .m., goose pollution, lack of a fireboat on the inland waters, illegal construction, the environment, security and challenges to the Equity Ordinance.

And being unconventional themselves, they met in the Fremont Unconventional Center.

The recent fire at the Seattle Yacht Club and a houseboat fire on Portage Bay last year gave rise to a discussion on the lack of a fireboat that could get quickly to a fire along the shore. Suggestions were made that Harbor Patrol boat #4, a police boat based on Lake Union which has some fire-fighting capability, should respond to the fires.

Most agreed early morning rowing cruise noise was a distraction and goose poop on docks was a mess, as was water, air and noise pollution, traffic and parking, many of the problems that most city dwellers encounter.

But a major concern among houseboaters was the Equity Ordinance, a law passed in 1980 governing floating homes, specifically targeting the right of first refusal (ROFR). The ROFR, which is considered unconstitutional by attorneys and others, gives houseboat tenants the right to purchase their dock(s) when the landlord plans to sell. At this time the City Council has postponed a vote on repealing the ROFR portion of the ordinance until after further study. (A similar law regarding manufactured housing communities was declared unconstitutional in 2000.)

In the 1980s, most floating homes were moored at rental docks owned by landlords. Over the years that has changed, and the majority of floating homes are now owned by residents who have turned the rental docks into cooperative or condo associations, a move facilitated by the Equity Ordinance and the ROFR. Less than a dozen privately-owned rental docks remain on Lake Union and Portage Bay.

FHA has recommended to the city attorney and the city Council that they not reach a final conclusion on the constitutionality of the ordinance at this time, but that they wait to test the legality with a real case in the courts, not in City Council.

Showing typical houseboat ingenuity, after the meeting the anniversary gathering turned into a social hour featuring music of the "Midnight Ramblers" from Portage Bay.

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Anonymous	Sep 14, 2002	Lake Union	Architect
Response to "Floating Homes Association Celebrates 40th Anniversary," 5/9/02 Were Carl Nyberg and Jo Bailey at the same meeting as I? They glossed over the meat of the meeting by only briefly mentioning the agenda items, among which were the results of research and retreats intended to change the very core of the way FHA does business. They then chose to devote half of this article to their pet peeve, the repeal of the First Right of Refusal. While important, this issue was one of many discussed. Carl Nyberg is a long-time moorage property owner, one among several that are still living in the sixties when it comes to floating home issues. His prejudices are showing when he devotes half of an article on the FHA 40th Anniversary Meeting to highlighting the issue closest to his heart. Is this unbiased reporting? I suggest that the next time your newspaper publishes an article reporting on FHA issues, they hire someone who can give an impartial accounting.