Dock would house half transient and half residential boat users

The city of Excelsior is moving forward with an application asking to construct a dock in Excelsior Bay that would benefit both boat users in the city and those visiting the city via boat.

At its Feb. 21 meeting, the Excelsior City Council gave approval to submit an application to the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District (LMCD).

The proposal calls for constructing a dock similar in size to the ones already constructed for use by Excelsior residents.

The new dock would have 14 slips, with seven slips dedicated for residential use and seven for transient users.

The city needs to get the consent of the LMCD before it could move ahead with construction.

The proposal will be submitted to the LMCD this week and is expected to be discussed at its meeting in late March.

In January of 2003, the LMCD gave the city approval to construct four docks. Three docks were designated for overnight boat storage and one dock was planned for transient use. The permit required the docks to be constructed within two years.

While the city constructed the three overnight boat docks, which residents pay a permit fee to use, the dock for transient users wasn’t built.

Last year the LMCD gave the city a one-year extension on constructing the transient use dock, adding that the dock had to be for transient users. The extension expires in March.

The minutes of the March 2005 LMCD meeting note that the consensus of the board was that the transient dock is desperately needed in Excelsior.

“We’re hoping they’ll look at the half and half,” said Excelsior Council Member Tim Caron.

Currently there are more than 100 people on a waiting list wanting to keep their boat at the city’s docks.

Recently the city raised the rates for residential dock users, with the intention of helping fund the replacement costs for the current docks and to fund the fourth dock.

The estimated cost for the construction of the fourth dock is $75,000.

Currently, boaters coming into Excelsior via boat don’t have to pay for the use of the city’s dock.

The city owns one transient dock, which has six slips.

Excelsior resident Leon Boyd suggested the city should install meters, like the ones installed on Lake Street, at the transient docks.

“Each one of the transient boat users should help pay for the docks,” said Boyd.

Council members were receptive to the idea, which already has been studied by the Financial Advisory Commission. Council members suggested they should talk about the dock meters at a study session.

The cost for maintaining, and eventually replacing the dock, is charged to users of the general Port of Excelsior area, according to Jim Olds, financial director for the city. Those users primarily include the charter boats.

General taxes don’t go towards funding the docks, said Olds.

Excelsior resident Kevin Sherman objected to the notion that residential dock users should have to foot the bill for boaters visiting the town.

“You’re asking the citizens of Excelsior to pay for the transient dock users,” said Sherman at the council’s Feb. 21 meeting. “The big fly in the ointment is that you’re going to charge transient to residential.”

If the approval process goes as planned, the city expects to begin construction of the dock in the winter of 2007.

If built, the new dock would be constructed north of the current docks. Then the docks designated for residential use would be shifted to the three most northern docks and the mixed dock would be closest to the charters.