Dolphin Yacht Club reacts to ‘significant’ rent increase

The Dolphin Yacht Club (DYC) has operated out of a refurbished house at the Port of Camas-Washougal’s Waterfront Park since the 1950s.

The yacht club’s members would like to continue to hold their events there for decades to come, but know they will be challenged to do so after a recent decision by Port of Camas-Washougal commissioners that could significantly alter the club’s financial reality.

In late October, Port commissioners approved a new lease with the DYC, a nonprofit that operates as a membership boat club, which will effectively quadruple the yacht club’s rent by late 2024.

“As part of all of our leases, we look at higher and better uses for our property, if there are any,” Derek Jaeger, the Port’s director of businesses and real estate, told Port commissioners at their Oct. 26 meeting. “We noticed that their current rate ($415.24 per month) was significantly under what we could be charging for that property.”

Eric Buller, a DYC member and outgoing Commodore, told The Post-Record that Port officials told the DYC in 2022, to stop subleasing the clubhouse to non-members, a practice the club had been doing for many years.

“Last year, apparently, the Port was made aware of the fact that we were doing rentals, and they brought it to our attention,” Buller said. “I don’t know if the old Commodore and the old bridge crew knew anything about it, but apparently the lease that we had stated that we were not allowed to do that. It was something that had been done for decades, and I don’t think anybody gave it a second thought until it was brought up. We started negotiations in November of last year to get the rights to go ahead and start renting the building again.”

Those negotiations led to the completion of a lease that includes a three-year term with two one-year options, and an allowance for either party to terminate the agreement with six months notice. The DYC will pay the Port $1,500 per month from November 2023 to May 2024, and $2,000 per month starting in November 2024.

“Because we approached them to be able to rent the building, it was made clear at the very beginning that they didn’t feel that we were paying enough, so at least we had an inkling that there was going to be a change regardless, whether we wanted it or not,” Buller said. “Obviously, $415 is really cheap. But we’re also responsible for all the maintenance on the building. We don’t own any of it (the property), but we’re responsible for all of it. I guess in years past it was just kind of assumed that we would just be there forever.”

Still, Buller said, the yacht club leaders were surprised by the scale of the rent increase.

“We were hoping for maybe a little bit more of a, ‘OK, we’re at $415, let’s double it, let’s work something out’ (scenario), but it was a shock to find out that they wanted to go from ($415) to $2,000 a month without us having done any rentals (in the past year), without having been able to raise our membership rates, without any discussion with the membership. It was, ‘Here’s what it’s going to be. Accept it or move out.’ If we don’t rent the building at all, and we don’t do any special events to raise any money, we will run out of money at exactly this time next year.”

“We’ve had members working on marketing and advertising,” he said. “We’re on Facebook now, and we’re redoing our website. I have an email set up for just rentals. We’re getting a couple of banners made, and obviously speaking to (the media to) get the word out. It’s all voluntary, so it takes a little bit of time. I’ve probably gotten, I would say, 12 to 14 inquiries in the last three weeks, which is pretty good, and we’ve booked two. It’s a start.”

Buller acknowledged that club leaders have discussed the possibility of raising membership dues (it raised its yearly dues to $300 per family in 2023, up from $275 in previous years), but also hope to create additional revenue streams as well.

“It’s meant to be a family friendly, not exclusive, type of organization,” said Buller, adding that the DYC membership roster currently includes between 35 to 40 families. “We make good money off of special events — Opening Day, Closing Day. We make good money when the Christmas Ships Parade comes through; traditionally, we cook the captains and the crews dinner (before) they go back down (to the river) and hop on their boats. We (hosted a Super Bowl party) last year, and that was tremendously successful. We’ve also talked about the idea of holding an ‘open house’ for boating, and make it kind of a community outreach day.”

Port Commissioner Larry Keister expressed concerns about the lease and the Port’s continued relationship with the DYC.

“I do have reservations in regard to this lease due to the past maintenance and upkeep issues,” Keister said. “My concerns are about liability. I’m worried about the deck that was rebuilt — that needs to be inspected as to its load and its capacity to hold whatever weight we think is appropriate. A deck failure during parties is a huge liability for us.”