Floating · PDF filethat fences with real gates were erected and you had to have a security...

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Floating Times 05 ISSUE Sep/Oct 2013 On September 30th Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 253. This law was sponsored by the FHA and introduced by Assemblyman Marc Levine. AB 253 smoothes out the pro- cess of home owners setting up a condo- minium association to purchase a floating home marina. Combined with AB 2046 (which Governor Brown signed last year), these new state laws will ensure that floating home owners will be in a perfect position to purchase a marina should the current owners elect to sell it. The bill’s language also protects homeowners who do not want to buy their berth. AB 2046 prevents the Marin County tax assessor from re-assessing and increas- ing the valuation of a floating home ma- rina upon its sale to the marina’s home owners. This will be a huge financial benefit to home owners should an oppor- tunity arise to purchase a marina. With AB 253 we now have the ability to quickly and easily set up the condo association needed for the purchase. Getting a bill through the California Assembly and Senate, then signed by the Governor, is not a quick or easy task. It takes a lot of peo- ple work- ing together. In this effort we want to thank Assemblyman Levine, his great staff, Barry Brokaw (West Pier resident) and Stan Barbarich (VP Government Relations). Barry, who works as a lob- byist in Sacramento, made things much easier for the FHA with his hard work, knowledge and contacts. This is the 6th piece of legislation that the FHA has sponsored then introduced and signed into law. Not too bad for a small, volunteer only organization. Prior legis- lation sponsored by the FHA has ensured your ability to obtain a title for a floating home, required that Proposition 13 ap- plies to floating homes and given us a bill of rights in our relations with the marina owners. Without the FHA and the leg- islation sponsored by it, our community would be very different and certainly far less desirable to live in. FLOATING HOMES ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER this issue Dinghy Dame Movie Night Real Estate Market Jazz Radio CERT Corner FHA Tour and much more! NEW LAW SIGNED BY GOVERNOR by Ron Moreland WPH Construction Update by Harbor Equity Group Progress in the A and Issaquah docks area has been extra slow, due to sunken debris and large boulders which re- quired removal before pilings could be driven. The old plan to raise half the width of Gate 6 Road in that area was modi- fied to include raising the entire width of the road along the shoreline. The shape of the road will also change, as WPH reclaims the portion that has long encroached on its property, resulting in narrowing the road to 18 feet. Then the parking lots will be excavated and filled and if that’s completed by the end of 2013, Issaquah and A docks’ entry structures will be constructed in January/February. Liberty Dock parking lots should be completed by end of October. The en- try structure, basic land- scaping and new lighting is expected to be com- plete by year’s end. Main Dock piling work and dock reconfiguration may begin in October, otherwise it’s delayed until July 2014. WPH residents’ community meeting by Stan Barbarich The enactment of AB 253 and 2046 have made it much easier and economical for residents to purchase the harbor. Please attend the Harbor Equity Group community meeting at the Sausalito Cruising Club on November 7th at 7pm to learn about and explore this new, favorable purchase opportunity!

Transcript of Floating · PDF filethat fences with real gates were erected and you had to have a security...

Floating Times05I S S U E

S e p / O c t 2 0 1 3

On September 30th Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 253. This law was sponsored by the FHA and introduced by Assemblyman Marc Levine. AB 253 smoothes out the pro-cess of home owners setting up a condo-minium association to purchase a floating home marina. Combined with AB 2046 (which Governor Brown signed last year), these new state laws will ensure that floating home owners will be in a perfect position to purchase a marina should the current owners elect to sell it. The bill’s language also protects homeowners who do not want to buy their berth.

AB 2046 prevents the Marin County tax assessor from re-assessing and increas-ing the valuation of a floating home ma-rina upon its sale to the marina’s home owners. This will be a huge financial benefit to home owners should an oppor-tunity arise to purchase a marina. With AB 253 we now have the ability to quickly and easily set up the condo association needed for the purchase.

Getting a bill through the California Assembly and Senate, then signed by the

Governor, is not a quick or easy task. It takes a lot of peo-ple work-ing together. In this effort we want to thank Assemblyman Levine, his great staff, Barry Brokaw (West Pier resident) and Stan Barbarich (VP Government Relations). Barry, who works as a lob-byist in Sacramento, made things much easier for the FHA with his hard work, knowledge and contacts.

This is the 6th piece of legislation that the FHA has sponsored then introduced and signed into law. Not too bad for a small, volunteer only organization. Prior legis-lation sponsored by the FHA has ensured your ability to obtain a title for a floating home, required that Proposition 13 ap-plies to floating homes and given us a bill of rights in our relations with the marina owners. Without the FHA and the leg-islation sponsored by it, our community would be very different and certainly far less desirable to live in.

F L O AT I N G H O M E S A S S O C I AT I O N

N E W S L E T T E R

th is issueDinghy Dame

Movie Night

Real Estate Market

Jazz Radio

CERT Corner

FHA Tour

and much more!

NEW LAW SIGNED BY GOVERNORby Ron Moreland

WPH Construction Update by Harbor Equity Group

Progress in the A and Issaquah docks area has been extra slow, due to sunken debris and large boulders which re-quired removal before pilings could be driven. The old plan to raise half the width of Gate 6 Road in that area was modi-fied to include raising the entire width of the road along the shoreline. The shape of the road will also change, as WPH reclaims the portion that has long encroached on its property, resulting in narrowing the road to 18 feet. Then the parking lots will be excavated and filled and if that’s completed by the end of 2013, Issaquah and A docks’ entry structures will be constructed in January/February.

Liberty Dock parking lots should be completed by end of October. The en-try structure, basic land-scaping and new lighting is expected to be com-plete by year’s end.

Main Dock piling work and dock reconfiguration may begin in October, otherwise it’s delayed until July 2014.

WPH residents’ community meetingby Stan Barbarich

The enactment of AB 253 and 2046 have made it much easier and economical for residents to purchase the harbor. Please attend the Harbor Equity Group community meeting at the Sausalito Cruising Club on November 7th at 7pm to learn about and explore this new, favorable purchase opportunity!

Jack Schwaner photo by the Dinghy Dame

This month I visited Jack Schwaner, long- time resident of the Co-Op. The first words out of his mouth were, “It’s all history now.” Jack has been a member of our community since 1966, and for him, things are a- changin’.

Jack was born in a tiny town in west Nebraska on the Wyo-ming border. He led a pretty sheltered life until he won an art scholarship to the Kansas City Art Institute. When he arrived there in 1964 he was overwhelmed by what he considered a vast metropolis. He had never been exposed to such a large city, or marijuana, but said, “Even the teachers were smoking pot. “ By the time 1966 rolled around, he had dropped out of college, headed to Haight Ashbury and found the waterfront. Jack says, “I was a successful hippie and lived the life of a psychedelic Reilly.” He also said, “If you remember the sixties you weren’t there.” Jack was saved from the war in Viet Nam by a steel plate in his forearm. He traveled between Kansas City and California dozens of times before finally getting his degree in Sculpture in 1969. He then rented a balloon barge

on Yellow Ferry (so called simply because it was painted yellow.) Its real name was The City of Seattle. He explained to me that balloon barges were life boats shaped with two giant anchors and steel cables attached to a dirigible. They were built during WWII to tear the wings off low- flying enemy planes which were expected to strike after the attack on Pearl Harbor. None of them was used, fortunately, and they ended up in our midst along with much of the debris left over from the building of the Liberty Ships which was also left on our shoreline. Remember, this valuable land was rent free, and homes sprung up made of all sorts of imaginative cast offs. When Jack lived there he was carving totem poles for Barney West at Tiki Junction which was located at the foot of Napa St. He was also playing guitar in a rock band named Press and Webster Company, which was the lead-in act for Jimmie Hendrix. He smiled when he told me he had once shared a joint with him.

The ferry boats in our waters, including the Yellow Ferry, the Charles Van Damme, the San Rafael and the Richmond were originally designed to carry cars or even railroad cars with tracks on the first deck. They were all diesel or steam. It seems that before The Bay Bridge opened in 1936 and our Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, San Francisco was the busiest ferry terminal in the world, seeing some 200 ferries coming and going each day. When they were retired, several ended up on our waterfront.

For 7 years during the late 60s and early 70’s, Jack was renting a houseboat and working in the city at Satterly and Chap-in, a well- known music store. Harmon Satterly, an old world craftsman, became his mentor. He even taught Jack how to make a violin. Jack worked there for five years and a highlight of those years was to shake hands with Andres Segovia when he came into the store to buy strings.

During these days on the waterfront Jack met A.L. Eckstrom and they became “kindred spirits”. Many of you might know A.L as he is still anchoring out. Oddly enough they each had curly red hair. One day A.L. called Jack and told him he had a boat for him to buy for $400. Jack didn’t hesitate, but had to sell his treasured Bacon and Day banjo to make the deal.

Jack said he lived ten years on the waterfront before the Co-Op was formed and he never paid rent. He told me that Don Arques owned all that land because his family had a Spanish land grant given to them in the 1700’s. He apparently didn’t charge anyone for living there. Jack also told me that Arques gave up a good portion of that land for the war effort. He explained that during the building of the Liberty Ships on our shoreline the names of the gates were established. It seems that fences with real gates were erected and you had to have a security pass to enter. Gate one was down behind Mollie Stone’s market. At that time only gates one through three existed. The rest came later with the development of the other piers.

Jack then became a commercial fisherman. He was still playing guitar and first met Joe Tate in Fisherman’s Wharf where he inadvertently was playing on Joe’s street corner. They eventually played in the Charles Van Damme together where

Water You Doing Here? by The Dinghy Dame

Joe’s band, The Redlegs was a regular. You can still see and hear both Joe and sometimes Jack at the No Name Bar in downtown Sausalito.

Eventually, Jack said, the fishing died. The boat just quit, and they had to hire a welder. As Jack was watching the guy make the repairs, he thought, “Hey! I know how to do that!” So he started Jack’s Welding. He worked out of his shed which will soon be demolished due to the development. He got so busy he had 6 employees. He never advertised or joined the union, but was certified to weld on ships. Unfortunately “The Alcoholic Blues” hit him and the business plum-meted. He quit drinking 12 years ago and business has risen again. He said quitting drinking beer was one of the major events of his life. His father had always told him that you could not become an alcoholic if you only drank beer and avoided the hard stuff. He was wrong. It pained Jack to talk about this, but it is a major part of his story.

Jack is an incredible sculptor, and hopefully The Snail which is on top of a short piling in the Co-Op shallows will remain a testament to his work. For a while, Jack was known as Jack Shark because he carved magnificent wooden sharks, many of which were commissioned, and he sold them to make a living. The work however, was laborious and he didn’t make much money. He shared his album of photos with me and I was duly impressed.

During the houseboat wars in the early 70’s the law tried to evict them all and red tagged their homes. Jack said they even had an air- raid siren placed atop the San Rafael ferry boat to alert others that the law was coming. They hired Carl Shapiro a famous under-dog attorney who was kind of like a Robin Hood per Jack. And they won! Jack said the jury felt that if you’re going to kick someone out you shouldn’t be taking their money. Jack’s only brush with the law was for Civil Disobedience. It was also his first brush with development.

Eventually, as the rest of the docks sprang up around the Co-Op, they realized that they had in their midst, cheap labor, as there were so many artisans there. The Co-Op folks called all of them the new docks and today they still refer to most of us as such. “The irony of this”, says Jack, “is that with the WPH development, THEY will become the new dock.” He told me that “The Co-Op remains as an enclave of rebels in the midst of civilization.” He told me that they will be known as The Van Damme dock and they will try to salvage the one wheel which is left along with the large sculpted pieces. The plan is to position them parallel to Main Dock on a floating pier. He said, “You’ve seen what was done at Gate 5. It’s going to look nice, but there’s not going to be a trace of this left.” He told me that there will be a public park and a public pier installed. He has written a song about the development. It is called The Bulldozer Blues. They’re tearing my neighborhood down.

I must thank Mickey Allison, who suggested I meet Jack before he lost his shop. She met him on her morning walks as he goes out daily to pick up trash and clean up the area. And indeed he is a character as well as an invaluable source of historical information regarding the beginnings of our life here on the water. I think there is a bit of rebel in all of us. I am reminded of a telephone operator I talked to once who asked for my address, and when I explained that it was the address of a floating home, she said….”Wow! What’s it like to live on the edge?” I should have referred her to Jack.

Movie Night by Steve SekhonOn September 13th, the first ever paddle-in movie transpired in the lagoon between Issaquah and Liberty docks. An enormous 11x14 foot screen was hung from Mark and Kimberly’s boat and Steve and Jarl bought their lap-top, speakers and a borrowed digital projector from the Dunaway’s to show a couple of riveting Looney Tune Cartoons (Bugs and Tweetie) followed by Harrison Ford’s original portrayal of Indiana Jones in The Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not too shabby.

Kayaks, canoes, floats, boats, whalers and skiffs all showed up to bob, float and view in the funnest and coziest way ever. Glow sticks were dispersed, popcorn eaten, and new friends made. Additional screenings shall take place in the near future, possibly late October with a Halloween- based theme. Surely we can top the 50 or so people who showed up for the first one, don’t you think?

Two notifications were sent to reps of every dock to announce the event with the proviso that rain wind or other unwanted foul weather would cancel the event. Can you see a jus-tifiable reason that you yourself would not be enthused to participate in the next paddle –in movie? Me neither.

The data used in this article are derived from the Bay Area Real Estate Information Service for the Marin County Multiple Listing Service and include all types of residential housing. They represent adjusted means striking out the highest and lowest distorting sales.

THE MARIN REAL ESTATE MARKET

In the fourth quarter of 2007 and into 2008 economic events reversed a steady and forceful trend in Marin real estate. Since 1965, on a year-to-year basis, sale prices of Marin County residential real estate had increased, no matter what the economic events, in every year except 1991 and 1992 (less than 2% decrease in each of the years). Forty-eight years ago in 1965 the average sale price of a home in Marin was $30,710.00. By 1975 that sale price had a little more than doubled to $64,215.00. The 1975 average price was doubled in 1979 to $137,925.00. It took nine years for that price to double to $282,431.00 in 1988. It was 11 years before they doubled again to $590,821.00 in 1999. Seems to me it should be getting tougher for sale prices to double, but it was only eight years in 2007 that average sale prices again doubled to $1,223,678.00! 1965 through 2007, 42 years of bubble?

Then things changed. In the four recession years, 2008 through 2011, average sale prices in Marin dropped approxi-mately 30.91%! In 2012 they increased a modest 3.7% compared to 2011 and have continued up since. Interest rates for loans (tough to qualify for) had become very low. Then in late 2011 and in 2012 the pent-up demand accumulated through the recession began to burst forth in a flurry of buying activity that the small inventory of housing in Marin and the Bay Area could not satisfy. In 2012, 25% more homes sold than in 2011. In the first eight months of 2013 land home sale prices jumped approximately 24.97% in Marin to $1,084,026.00. Still shy of the all-time high of $1,223,678.00 in 2007, but we’ll see what year end brings.

In summary, in 2007 the real estate market hits an all-time high with an average sale price in Marin reaching $1,223,678.00. In the 4th quarter of ’07 comes the onset of a serious economic recession. Home prices in Marin dropped an historic

REAL ESTATE & FLOATING HOMES MARKET 2012-13 by Howard Myers

30.9% by year-end 2011. There is a modest turn for the better in 2012 (+3.7%).Then in just the first eight months of 2013 sale prices jumped 24.97%.

FLOATING HOMES

In the period 2007 through 2011, floating home prices declined 29.57%. Almost the same decline as land homes. With not much variation, when the market began to improve floating homes re-acted to conditions similarly to land, with one exception. Though with some difficulty qualifying, Land home buyers could get loans – at very low rates! Loans for floating homes all but disappeared. The one lender exception faithfully hanging in there is Financial Benefits Credit Union. Despite not having loans available, floating home sales increased from a total of 9 in 2012 to 17 in just the first eight months of 2013. One sale was $1,575,000.00 and had to be deleted from calculations because it would unacceptably skew

the data. With that correction the average sale price through the end of August 2013 was $530,253.00. If this holds for the year, it is the highest ever one-year average sale price increase for floating homes. It was 42.99%! This increase is greater than the increase for Land homes so far this year. But before getting too excited remember that floating homes are a statistically tiny portion of the larger home market. If that margin of difference persists for some time, we could begin to think something else is happening. For now it could be a fluke.

With the shortage of lenders there have been many cash sales, and sellercarrying loans that can make a sale work. There is however a new problem I’m checking into regarding owner-carry loans that involves the Dodd-Frank Bill

disallowing balloon payments on private loans for homes. I’m wondering if floating homes may be an exception being ‘personal property.’ We’ll see.

WHAT’S AHEAD NOW?

This recession was longer and much more serious than any I’ve experienced. I think we are coming out of it regionally, e.g. Bay Area - good, Central Valley/Riverside – not so good. We’re privileged as homeowners to live in the Marin County

Here is a sample of what some central and southern Marin communities did in the first eight months of 2013

Year-End 2012 End of August, 2013

Corte Madera $853,877 -- Up 21.6%

Greenbrae 854,592 -- Up 25.6%

Larkspur 1,070,071 -- Up 27.8%

Mill Valley 1,144,932 -- Up 23.4%

Sausalito 943,617 -- Up 37.0%

Tiburon 1,652,334 -- Up 54.0%

– Bay Area where economic potential is dynamic, and there is less and less land to build on. Also, so many people want to live here! There are parts of the U.S. and California that for some time have been “rust belt.” And now we have a huge low-paying service economy and there exists a broad category of structurally unemployed people without the skills or knowledge to participate in the economy as it exists. They can’t afford to live here of course.

How place and time can make such a difference! Our houseboats and housing in Marin and most of the Bay Area is bouncing back from a recession that appears to have permanently changed life for many people (the structurally un-employed and people now older who, for employment purposes, were once counted among the young). I’ve met some people in Marin not really that old and who not too far back would have worked many years to come. But not now. At least not full time and at previous levels of employment. Some can count themselves lucky to have substantial equity in a home in a place like this. Of course we know that some have lost those homes.

But homes are again appreciating in our area, and I think will continue to do so to all our benefit. We have to get some financing for floating homes. Try as I do, I can’t get lenders. I think many of us use a bank that won’t loan on our homes. How about a letter to them letting them know that you wonder if you should continue using a bank that does not even loan on your home?

CONCLUSION

Enough preaching! We’re coming out of a serious recession and, on the whole,the future for our community looks bright. It’s going to be interesting to see how the year progresses. I think a short year-end report is in order.

Jazz Radio Lures Floating Home Owners

by Court Mast

Peter Huson loves jazz music, and boasts a jazz re-cord collection going back decades. Larry Clinton owns and manages the rights to his father’s Big Band jazz compositions. Court Mast writes jazz pieces and produced a jazz CD with a Sausalito theme. And now, all three floating home owners have found a new way to touch their jazz roots, but in a slightly tangential fashion. They volunteer at Sausalito’s jazz radio sta-tion, Radio Sausalito.

Peter’s handle is “The Tide Guy,” on a show called Tide Tones. He reads the times and heights of today’s tides in Sausalito along with a bit of trivia – “On this day in 1917, Ella Fitzgerald was born.” Larry produces and hosts Sausalito’s Secret History, a specialty show of scintillating segments from Sausalito’s past, such as Underwater Streets (those empty spaces on our docks) and Alcatraz Indians (they met in 1969 at the No Name Bar before starting their occupation of the island). Court is the station’s Webmaster, responsible for the sparkling new website and the new Internet Stream.

The station’s tiny studio is tucked in a private home above downtown Sausalito, and its 100-milliwatt signal on 1610 AM can barely be heard while driving along Bridgeway. But since September 1st, it’s been streaming online in full stereo at (www.RadioSausalito.org). So Listen Up, World!

Radio Sausalito is looking for more volunteers and show hosts, especially those with an interest in jazz music and Marin issues. You don’t need to be a floating home owner to volunteer, but we all know where the best talent comes from.

Larry Clinton, Peter Huson and Court Mast in the Radio Sausalito studio. Photo by Marling Mast

Historic 2013 TourBy Larry Clinton

The 2013 Tour Committee thought we had planned for every contin-gency --- EXCEPT late summer rain squalls. On Saturday morning, Sept. 21, as we were setting up in a downpour at Kappas Green and the Gateway Center, the lyrics to Dinah Washington’s great hit, “September in the Rain” kept running through my mind.

We soon had lots of eager visitors and the weather was forecast to clear by early afternoon, so the decision was made to go ahead with the 28th Floating Homes Tour. By the end of the day, everyone seemed glad we did.

In recognition of the historic changes occurring in our community, this year’s event was themed Magical History Tour. Informational placards and docents were stationed at historic sites along the way, from the remnants of the ferryboat Charles Van Damme off Gate 6 Road to the exterior of the Owl on South Forty. So visitors learned a bit more about what led up to the unique lifestyle we enjoy today.

Thanks to great advanced publicity, including three mentions in the Chronicle the week of the tour, we sold 800 prepaid tickets. More than 700 of those folks actually braved the elements to take the tour, along with 164 walk-ins. Once again, this event will be the major funding source for all the activities and community services provided by the FHA. But, in the words of long-time volunteer Pam Bousquet, the tour is “more about making friends than money.”

Over 240 volunteers helped visitors with parking and shuttles, ramps and entries, food and drink, art and music, and everything else they could think of. Several came from Sausalito Village and Friends of the Marin City Library. While the open homes are the major attraction for attendees, it’s the volunteers who make this event so special.

The 14 homeowners who opened their doors to our visitors deserve special recognition for going beyond expectations to accommodate soggy shoes and clothing, and keeping everyone in a sunny mood even when the skies were grayest. They were rewarded with the re-spect and delight visitors expressed upon seeing their unique homes.

Thanks also to the artists, musicians and food vendors who with-stood the elements. They were great examples of the old adage, “The show must go on.”

By the end of the day the sun came out, the folding chairs dried off, and many of the tired but still-cheerful volunteers gathered on Kappas Green to enjoy music by the Julie Courtney Band, gourmet sandwiches from Davey Jones Deli, and drinks served by volunteer Rotarians. Tour co-chairs Hillair Bell, Art Brendze, JoAnn Dunaway and I appreciated the opportunity to personally thank as many vol-unteers as we could.

On Sunday, while strolling along sunny South Forty Pier, I was re-minded of another great Dinah Washington hit: “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes.”

Photos courtesy Emily Riddell

CERT CornerBeing prepared for winter storms by Ray Dunaway

The last several winters have been relatively benign which may lead to a false sense of security. Remember to have the following done before the storms of winter arrive:

- Are you ready for the big winds? In 2008 we had 100 mph winds! Have your lines and mooring pilings inspect-ed! They are your responsibility! Are the lines in good shape and properly adjusted? Do you have back up lines or know where to get them? Are your pilings rotten? Look at them at low, low tide! Do you have tarps to cover a hole in the event the roof blows off?

- What do you need to know about being without power for up to 5 days? Do you know how to override the float switch and empty your holding tank? (You will want to do this if a bad storm and high winds threaten a power outage – NOT after the lights have gone out). What is your back up plan if you can’t use water because the sew-age pump is not working? Do you have emergency flashlights that work in the rain? Do you have emergency food supplies that don’t require refrigeration or cooking? (Many gas stoves require power for the auto-pilot.)

- Do you know how to anticipate problems? Do you have a tide chart and refer to it weekly? Are you aware of the impact of low barometric pressure and high winds? Do you know where to safely park your car?

You can get answers to these questions and many more by referring to previous issues of the Floating Times or by sponsoring a two hour Get Ready Marin program with at least six of your neighbors. JoAnn and I are happy to come to your home and make the presentation. Contact me at [email protected].

CERT News by Ray Dunaway and Joe Novitski

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is alive and well. The CERT program, which has lan-guished in recent years at the county level, has been rejuvenated with some positive changes. These changes include a new Fire Department liaison, a new CERT structure and, for the Floating Homes Community, a new CERT co-supervisor. Joe Novitski is joining me as a Co-Supervisor. As part of the new organization structure the existing Division 3B will be now known as the Floating Homes Division or Division FH.

This reorganization is being kicked off with a First Aid, CPR and Automated Defibrillator course to be taught on 1 and 2 November from 0830 – 1130 at Southern Marin Fire District Station 9. Cost is $25.00. For this first course you do not have to be a CERT to take the course. Registration information will be available shortly. If you are an FHA Member the $25.00 fee will be reimbursed on presentation of proof of successful completion of the course.

Additional advanced courses will be offered three times a year. You will have to be a CERT to take future train-ing classes. Starting immediately, Division FH will be asking our members to select one of the specialties in the Incident Command Structure. These are Division Commander, Operations, Planning, Logistics and Administra-tion. We are asking each CERT who wishes to remain active to select one of these areas for advanced training. When we agree that the people in each group understand their roles and responsibilities there will be opportuni-ties to switch to another group and be cross-trained.

For information on becoming CERT certified please contact either Ray at [email protected] or Joe at [email protected].

An Appalachian Floating Home Community by Scott StonebackLiving in our community, it is easy to forget that there are many other places where floating homes exist. Seat-tle and Portland are two easily recognizable floating home nexuses, in addition to the San Francisco Bay Area. However, this past spring while living abroad and working eight weeks on a television show about Appalachian snake-handling preachers (another story for another time), I was made aware of another area full of floating homes… the inland lakes of Tennessee.

Many floating homes on lakes are really houseboats (the difference being that a floating home is meant to stay put with no propulsion, whereas a houseboat is primarily a boat). Interestingly, though, most of the homes I discovered in TN were permanently moored in marinas, with shorepower routed to them, much like our homes here. The TN homes were not meant to move and looked like they could exist on any of our docks.

I was put up in a lakeside vacation house with several crew members, right on the shores of Norris Lake, North of Knoxville by about an hour’s drive. In our cove were several houseboats, lazily rocking in the breeze! I felt at home, instantly. Later, I talked to Marilyn, an employee at nearby Flat Hollow Marina. She let me in on some of the details.

Most of the floating homes in Flat Hollow Marina are vacation rentals but they are pri-vately owned and the marina handles any rental business. The rentals are open from Memorial Day to mid-August for the vacation summer months. Prices range from $225 to $625 per night. After the Summer season, they are winterized and closed for rental but open for the private owners to use. It gets cold there, I witnessed several days of late Spring snow storms. My experience was there were a few regulars

around in the late Spring but that most homes were quiet and unoccupied. Homeowners and renters mostly come out from Ohio, Indiana, Colorado and Florida and Memorial Day is really the “Opening Day” for the season, which was the weekend after I had left back to home.

The homes were as eclectic as any other floating home marina I have been to. Some are shacks, some are palatial. Many look like expanded lake houseboats. Several were for sale, rang-ing in price from $5000 to one that was offered for over $200k. Marilyn guessed the average sale price was about $200k. Construction was wood framing over foam floatation. Most have

shore power run through underwater cabling, marine toilets and holding tanks which get regularly pumped out. They are not hooked up to sewage, nor are many parked in berths on a dock. Instead, they are moored out in the open water, usually separated by 20 to 30 feet.

I had a look around at these homes and they were impressive! Many had giant floating decks with several lev-els, slides, hot tubs, outdoor kitchens. Some homes were nothing more than a box with a fishing porch. Norris Lake is a recreation lake for fishing, swimming, and boating, so these homes were set up to maximize fun.

Norris Lake is huge, with 809 miles of shoreline backed up by the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Norris Dam, built in the mid-1930’s. The lake has many, many coves and inlets, all protected spots for floating homes. The fishing and outdoor recreation (I found world-

class mountain bike and hiking trails) is fantastic. It was a great place to tem-porarily call home and a great place to discover a different sort of floating home community.

Photos courtesy Danny Long

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www.nelsonpainting.pro FREE CONSULTATIONS Interior & exterior painting Dry rot removal and repair Industrial deck/roof coat-ings Natural wood restoration Dock repair/non-skid

coatings Feng Shui & Organizing 415-250-4100 786 Waldo Pt Sausalito Lic# 647175

FINANCIAL BENEFITS CREDIT UNION Sausalito Floating Home Owners Explore Your

Options - Purchase or refinance with 25 and 30 year terms - No balloon note - Any hull type California’s

most experienced credit union lender. [email protected] 510 433-9200

SADLER AND CO., INC. INSURANCE for Floating Homes

Owner or tenant. Excellent rates. Also yacht, home, renters, auto, business, life/health.

Call Broker Laura Elliott (415) 457-2400PAUL BERGERON REAL ESTATE

Residential Sales - Vacation Rentals Try a fresh ap-proach to selling or purchasing a Floating Home or earn extra income by renting as a Vacation Rental. 415 332-7539 www.PaulBergeronRealEstate.com

JOHN BOTT, MARINE MECHANIC Boats: engine/mechanical diesel & gasoline, electrical wiring/design, plumbing, woodwork.

Houseboats: interior, exterior design/construction. Fire retardant treatments, seal hulls, design/install solar systems, lighting.

Work guaranteed - 415 203 3836

CONCRETE HULL REPAIRS Using the Xypex(TM) system permanently seals concrete from inside out! Remodeling, Repairs,

Deck 70. Morgan Construction Contractor’s Lic. # 548554. (415) 531.5146 Visit www.houseboatrepair.info for details.BUYING/SELLING A FLOATING HOME?

With 25 years of waterfront living, I am your neighborhood real estate agent. Contact Rachelle Dorris 380-4636

Frank Howard Allen

TIDAL SEQUENCE OPPORTUNITIES CONCRETE BARGE REPAIR - ANODE

PROTECTION SYSTEMS TED EITELBUSS- (415) 332-0145

Repairing barges since 1964ENGMAN ARCHITECTURE

Robert Engman AIA - Architect, estb. in Sausalito in 1973. Multiple experience with Floating Homes,

Single Family Residences, new & remodeling, Kitchens, Baths & site improvements. Completed

projects in all Southern Marin cities. Owner/architect of #11 “A” Dock, Waldo Point Harbor. (415) 383-1606

www.millvalleyarchitect.comRed Shield Insurance Company®

JUST MORE COVERAGE www.redshield.com , 800-527-7397

Knowledge Commitment Reliability ServiceMICHAEL CLARRON SHEATS - ARCHITECT

40 years experience in residential design - avail-able for consultation, design and full service archi-tectural projects for the floating home community.

415.948.1433 www.mcsarchitect.com - [email protected]

CANOS CLASSIC REPAIRS Custom Carpentry Houseboats, Houses, Deck Work,

Railings, Design, Refinishing 35 Years Experience Call Roy 707-362-2450

Email - [email protected] INSURANCE SERVICES RED SHIELD

APPOINTED AGENT Serving the Floating Home community since 1993.

Owner/tenant occupied up to 4 units. Broad & Basic policies available. Call Carolyn at 800-486-4008

ALMEIDA HOUSE CARE Fully experienced and detailed oriented service with stellar references on the Floating Homes community,

Marin, San Francisco and Sonoma County. For an estimate visit please call Douglas @

415-497-5727 or email: [email protected] CONSTRUCTION CA#692399 Reasonable and reliable, I’m experienced in

home remodel & repairs, new construction, carpentry to finish work, baths and kitchens. Local references.

415-465-1100. Free estimates. Rich HaskellADVERTISE IN THE FLOATING TIMES

Place your (un)classified advertisement in the float-ing times for the low, low price of $50.00/year (6

issues.) Ads should be no more than 250 characters in length with no formatting and with a header of up to 2 lines and 50 characters. Call Cathy Moreland at (415)332-2429 Email: [email protected]

Floating Homes Association Inc. PO Box 3054 Sausalito, CA 94966

FLOATING TIMES01ISSUE

FHA OFFICERSPresident Katherine Boschetto 297 6592 [email protected] President Flo Hoylman 332-1043 [email protected] Hillair Bell 577-7220 [email protected] Ron Moreland 332-2429 [email protected] at Large Suki Sennett 331-6375 [email protected] Henry Baer 331-9220 [email protected]. Coordinator Lewis Shireman 331-8325 [email protected] Gov. Relations Stan Barbarich 332-7225 [email protected] Emergency Prep. Ray Dunaway 332-5548 [email protected] Joe Novitski (786) 367-5859 [email protected] Notification Stan Barbarich 332-7225 [email protected] Committee Ron Moreland 332-2429 [email protected] Blaise Simpson 331-6079 [email protected] Pam Bousquet 331-3614 [email protected] Jarl Forsman (510) 866-5275 [email protected] Claudia Duncan 272-5002 [email protected] Editor Scott Stoneback 806-6083 [email protected] Submissions Donna Lunsford 332-5350 [email protected] Newsletter Classifieds Cathy Moreland 332-2429 [email protected] Tour Co-Directors Arthur Brendze 522-6949 [email protected] Hillair Bell 577-7220 [email protected] Larry Clinton 332-6196 [email protected] JoAnn Dunaway 331-2888 [email protected] John Adams [email protected] Relations Michelle Affronte 798-0236 [email protected] Emergency Line when using cell phones 472-0911RBRAHarbor Admin Bill Price 289-4143 [email protected] cell: 971-3919 San Francisco Baykeeper Hot Line 1-800 533-7229Marin County Fire Dept. Non-emergency 446-4463Marin County Sheriff Non-emergency 332-5422Harbor Equity Group (HEG) Pam Bousquet 331-3614 [email protected] Residents (HEG) Liaison Ric Miller 331-6116 [email protected] Residents (KHA) Liaison Ron Moreland 332-2429 [email protected] 456-7283 (24 Hour Nightline) 300-6359The Marine Mammal Center 289-7325

FHA Voice Mail: (415) 332-1916 Website: www.floatinghomes.orgDOCK REPS and ALTERNATES ADock Bob Engman 608-5068 [email protected] Alternate Laurel Polarek 339-8964 [email protected] Felicity Kirsch 888-3919 [email protected] Alternate Michael Bank 717-5876 [email protected] Michael Labate 331-5081 [email protected] Alternate Malinda Macey 332-0501East Kappas John O’Dea 729-9045 [email protected] Alternate Rose-Meri Muldoon 331-5348 [email protected] 6 1/2 Blaise Simpson 331-6079 [email protected] Alternate Larry Clinton 332-6196 [email protected] Steve Sekhon 510 205-2148 [email protected] Alternate Rachelle Dorris 272-1543 [email protected] Nanci Starr 244-2499 [email protected] Alternate Gary Star 707 228-5630 [email protected] Main Dock Tony Williams 332-6296 [email protected] Alternate Peter Huson 332-6240 [email protected] Forty John Adams 454-9100 [email protected] Alternate Craig Merrilees 331-3558 [email protected] West Kappas Maggie Knibbs 385-5969 [email protected] Alternate Rick Whiting 740-2924 [email protected] Alternate Beverly Serpico [email protected] Yellow Ferry Jay Lalezari 353-0800 [email protected] Alternate Eric Browne 887-9551 [email protected] Alternate Richard Pavek 331-3753 [email protected] GOVERNMENT District 3 Supervisor Kate Sears 473-7331Assemblymember Mark Levine 479-4920San Francisco BCDC 352-3600FEMA 800-462-9029Army Corps of Engineers 332-0334Sausalito Post Office 332-0258