Complaint raised about Docktown relocation

“The process should be restarted once these issues have been addressed, and no sales consummated until all have been resolved,” he said in the document.

The appraisal process for Docktown homes is one component of a relocation plan to end residential use at the marina approved by the City Council in December. Aimed at fulfilling the requirements of a lawsuit settled last year with an attorney and Docktown neighbor that found the floating community to be a violation of the public trust, the plan was drafted over the course of months.

City Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz confirmed in an email that the issues Callister raised are the subject of an administrative appeal the city has asked an independent hearing officer to consider.

“Because this is an ongoing process, the city cannot respond in detail at this time,” she said, adding that the city is legally obligated to end private residential uses at Docktown Marina.

“We know this presents challenges for residents, which is why the city is providing relocation advisory services, such as information on marina and land-based housing options, and financial assistance, such as payment of moving costs and other associated relocation costs,” she said.

Callister alleges the appraiser who signed the certification for all three of his Docktown properties failed to consider the value of them as homes and future assets and instead focused the valuation on what the vessels themselves were worth. He also claims the appraiser did not have the appropriate qualifications to assess the value of marine properties.

Callister also said a provision to identify up to 19 slips where boat owners can move their properties without penalty included in the relocation plan has not been addressed with enough time for residents to make plans to move to a new location. He also took issue with the staggered timeline used by the consultant hired by the city to execute this part of the relocation plan to issue the appraisals, saying that issuing some valuations before other appraisal processes had started gave some property owners an unfair advantage over others in determining their next steps.

“Requiring them to abide by a schedule that is over before other recipients even get their offers forestalls that ability of community members to share information and process errors, giving an unfair advantage to the last residents served and putting the early recipients at a disadvantage,” he said.

Diaz confirmed that Docktown residents have the option of selling their live-aboard vessels to the city, though they are not obligated to do so, and that the Docktown Plan allows tenants to provide their own appraisal of their property.

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