Kayaking center ordered to get out of the water

At the Yale Street Marina on Lake Union, restaurants and yacht companies sit on the land just off the dock. Then there's the Moss Bay Rowing and Kayak Center, floating on wooden boards alongside the boats lined up just offshore.

The kayaking center has had its entire operation on floats for nearly 16 years, but now Seattle's Department of Design, Construction and Land Use (DCLU) has asked it to bring its boats ashore. If Moss Bay does not comply and doesn't find a land base by Sept. 26, the center could be gone.

At the end of July, the DCLU cited Moss Bay as a non-water-dependent activity — one that doesn't need to be totally on the water to function.

A water-dependent activity or structure, which must be on the water to function, is allowed offshore with a permit under the state Shoreline Management Act of 1971. These include fishing terminals, commercial boats and yachts in recreational marinas.

Most water-dependent companies have their headquarters on land with only a small part of their business, such as boats, actually floating, DCLU spokesman Alan Justad said.

The main problem the DCLU has with Moss Bay is that it appears to be storing things on water that could be stored on land.

"The office, the parking, the storage of materials — that's supposed to be on dry land," said Justad.

But Moss Bay owner Jim Clark said, "From our standpoint, we're a totally water-dependent activity."

He said he started the company 16 years ago at a marina that's not far from his present location; he moved to the Yale Street Marina in 1990. At the time, he asked a city planner what criteria to follow and then built to those specifications. Clark said the city planner told him it was not a land-use issue and that he did not have to get a separate shoreline permit because Moss Bay was under the landlord's master permit.

"We felt that we did the things he asked us to do," Clark said.

Now, he said, the city is saying the structure is not acceptable.

"We would have gone by those codes if they were in place when we started," said Moss Bay manager Kevin Bynum.

Apparently, the shoreline code was in place but was ignored.

"The code hasn't changed," Justad said.

The DCLU noticed Moss Bay was in violation of the shoreline code when it got an anonymous complaint in 2000 about the construction of a boat shed over water without a building permit.

Since then, the city has gone back and forth with Moss Bay, first asking Clark to get a building permit and then saying the marina was in violation of the shoreline code and would have to leave.

The DCLU said the mere fact that Moss Bay uses the water for its activities, such as rowing, kayaking and sailing lessons, does not make it water-dependent. Finding land is the only thing Moss Bay can do to save itself, Justad said.

"There's no land on which we can move," Clark said. "The city is missing out on a huge benefit to the community by asking us to leave."

He said the activities at Moss Bay are a great asset to the community and that the center falls in line with one of the city's major goals: providing programs for kids. Moss Bay has a summer camp for children and offers lessons and excursions for youths in the city.

"It's a real affordable way for kids who wouldn't have had the experience otherwise to get out on the water," Clark said.

Each year, about 500 kids enroll in the summer camp, and about 2,000 more participate in youth programs through their schools, according to Clark.

Mydria Clark: 206-464-2550 or mclark2@seattletimes.com.