Harbor commission recommends $90/$240 annual crab-pot storage fee to city council

The Depoe Bay Harbor Commission voted to recommend that the City Council adopt an annual crab-pot storage fee based on the storage footprint on the dock: $90 per year for class A and B vessels and $240 per year for class C vessels (computed at $10 per square foot).

The proposal will be presented to city council at its April 1 meeting. Commissioners said the recommendation is intended as a practical, interim approach that the council can review and revise after a one-year trial and further data from harbor operations and engineering.

Commissioners and harbor users spent the bulk of the meeting discussing how to set a fee that is “fair and equitable” for boats that store crab pots on the new docks. Participants described a range of proposals discussed in prior meetings and with city staff — from about $100 up to $1,000 a year in some earlier drafts — and focused on two possible calculation methods: (1) apportion fees by vessel footprint (the amount mortgage holders already pay) and (2) apportion fees…