Gangplank Marina

---

People have lived on boats in the Washington Channel for decades if not longer, but the Gangplank Marina, a heretofore city-owned marina, has been the only Washington, DC facility formally allowing liveaboards since the 1970’s. ^[2] Established in 1977 (m) and renamed the Wharf Gangplank Marina in 2018, it is located (Latitude 38° 52.600’ N / Longitude  077° 01.334’ W) in and along the Washington Channel in the Southwest quadrant of Washington, DC.

Preparations for World War II ended plans for filling the Washington Channel with pleasure craft. Instead, a severe housing shortage during the war turned the waterfront into a port for houseboats, providing a less expensive housing option for the many government workers toiling in offices near the National Mall. Houseboats continue to be a permanent fixture at the Wharf Marina (nee Gangplank Marina).

The District of Columbia has continuously owned most of the waterfront, but there have been at least six lease ownership changes to the marina since its opening. (f) In early 2000, after the prior lessee went into bankruptcy, the District of Colombia issued a “notice of default” and subsequently a “notice to quit and relinquish possession notice to the latest lessee. (i)  Frustrated with the deferred maintenance and poor level of service by the various owners, liveaboard Richard Solem (Equity Fund Group) sought slipholder input in early 2000 to take over ownership control of the marina.

In 2001, the District of Columbia still owned the property but split the $6.3 million cost with the National Capital Revitalization Corporation (NCRC) to assume full control of Gangplank Marina plus adjacent properties from MIF Realty. (k) The District had leased the marina and adjacent properties to private companies over many years via the D.C. Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA). The RLA became defunct after the NCRC assumed control on 26 June 2001 of the 306-slip marina, the parking lots, a partially destroyed restaurant (e), and the Odyssey cruise ship.

The NCRC issued an RFP in August 2001 seeking a management firm to take over the day to day operations of the Gangplank Marina. In October 2002, the NCRC hired Coastal Properties Management, Inc. out of Annapolis as the new manager, a service previously performed by Boca Raton-based Marina Management Services. (b)

At the time, there were more than 130 liveaboards. The NCRC said it had no plans to change the marina, but Coastal Properties imposed a moratorium on new liveaboards until it could fully assess the management requirements. After a year of attrition, the community had dropped to less than 100 liveaboards. (a)

At the recommendation of NCRC CEO Elinor Bacon, Gangplank slipholders formed the Gangplank Slipholders Association (GPSA) on 10 September 2001 in order to provide focal representation for the community on Southwest DC’s redevelopment planning. Recognizing the difficulty of GPSA concurrently fulfilling both the role of policy coordination and sustaining marina social functions, on 22 June 2002 GPSA approved the formation of the Port of Washington Yacht Club (POWYC).

Soon after its formation, GPSA began seeking landlord-tenant rights status for liveaboards under DC law. As a result of GPSA’s effort, DC Councilmembers Phil Mendelson and Sharon Ambrose introduced Bill 15-181, the “Floating Homes Residency Amendment Act of 2003.” (k)

The bill would amend the Rental Housing Act of 1985 to regulate the rental of slips and moorages for floating homes, to require a written lease agreement with certain terms, and to define the rights and obligations of the owners of the marina and the owners of the floating homes. The tenant rights bill was never enacted and liveaboards to this day lack its associated protections under DC law.

Liveaboards occupy a gray zone in that they own their boats while occupying slips under a license agreement with the marina’s ownership. The license is transferrable and, depending on the perceived value of the limited number available for sale at any given time, could involve a premium paid by the buyer.

In 2005, PRM Consulting, Inc. conducted a customer satisfaction survey of Gangplank Slipholders on behalf of the NCRC. Recreational or seasonal boaters were generally more favorable of the facilities than the year-round liveaboard community. By contrast, the liveaboards were marginally more satisfied than recreational boaters with the marina’s managerial and clerical services. Results were mixed between the two types of slipholders in terms of maintenance and security services, and recreational users were marginally more favorable toward the marina’s communications and social services.

According to PRM, a mean score of 5.5 or higher may be considered a “good” result from the survey. Out of 28 marina attributes measured by the survey, only three were rated by slipholders at the 5.5 level or better.

The Anacostia Waterfront Commission (AWC) briefly succeeded the NCRC with oversight of Gangplank Marina but by 2007 both organizations were dissolved, and the Office of the Mayor of DC took control of the Southwest waterfront properties. (l)

After years of effort and under the leadership of Lamont “Monty” Hoffman, in 2012 Hoffman-Madison Waterfront LLC, subsequently Wharf Gangplank Marina Leaseholder (WGML) obtained DC Zoning Commission approval to redevelop the Washington Channel waterfront. As a condition of that DC Zoning approval, Hoffman entered into an agreement with GPSA on 17 September 2012 that protected the Liveaboard community during Phase I of the redevelopment of the waterfront. GPSA and Mr. Hoffman signed a subsequent agreement during the Phase II DC Zoning approval process on 11 December 2017 that protects the Liveaboard community during Phase II of the redevelopment to include completion of a new marina, and for the years beyond.

Hoffman was not the first developer to attempt to redevelop Gangplank and the waterfront, there were many, but he successfully executed. For example, a Bethesda-based developer named Ronald Cohen sought to buy the marina and surrounding properties in 1999 but pulled out after being rebuffed on the purchase of an adjacent property. (d)

At its peak size, Gangplank had eleven docks (A, B, C, D, E, F. G, H, I, K, T) with approximately 300 slips, of which 120 had liveaboard licenses. (g) Seven of the docks were demolished in 2014. D dock was removed in 2017 after the new Z dock was built to accommodate Phase I construction of the 7^th Street Recreation Pier. The original A, B and C docks, made of wood and originally built around 1989 with an expected lifespan of 28 years, were removed in 2019 after the new X and Y docks were completed. The Dock Office Building, built as a temporary structure around 1991 (g), was also removed with marina services temporarily moving into trailers located near the landside access to Z Dock.

The marina’s Pier Building, which was located on Pier 3 was built in 1978. Its Tower component at the end of Pier 3 served as home to the Gangplank Restaurant until that facility partially burned in 1997 (g). GPSA had asked the NCRC to allow Slipholders to use the Tower and its adjacent patio as a meeting place/lounge but instead the space became home for the next 15 years to Cantina Marina, a restaurant popular for both Gangplank residents and the broader DC community. Cantina Marina was initially framed as Marina Cantina by owner Nick Fontana. Pier 3 with its building and Tower, plus K and T docks were removed in 2018 to make way for completion of the Marina’s redevelopment.

Annapolis-based Oasis Marinas assumed management of Gangplank in 2018. In April 2022, the Water Building 2 (WB2) marina services complex was opened and the temporary office trailers removed. As boating season arrived, V and W docks were opened for transient or seasonal boaters. W dock includes a fuel dock and ship’s store. The second phase of the Wharf is scheduled for completion in October 2022.

In accordance with a Land Disposition Agreement between WGML, GPSA and the District, there is a commitment to restoring and maintaining a vibrant Liveaboard community of ninety-four (94) licensed liveaboard slipholders within twelve (12) months of the Wharf’s completion.

Throughout the years, the Gangplank Marina liveaboards have been active in the Southwest DC community. This includes hosting a variety of events including the semi-annual Home Boat Tour charity event, river cleanup efforts with Earth Conservation Corps and others, and in prior years served as a base of volunteers for the annual Southwest Cherry Blossom Festival. A new tradition by Gangplank liveaboards is to provide a colorfully lit parade of small boats for the thousands of tourists flocking to see July 4 fireworks and other major DC events.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangplank_Marina

References

^[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Channel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_(Washington,_D.C.)

(a) The Southwester [www.swdc.org], October 2002

(b) The Washington Times

(c) Washington City Paper, February 22, 2002

(d) Washington City Paper, February 22, 2002

(e) Washington City Paper, February 22, 2002

(f)  Adjusted from assertion on Washington Post, February 23, 2002

(g) NCRC RFP 2001

(h) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6759-2001Jul1.html

(i)  Equity Funding Group

(j)  https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=109983

(K) http://dcclims1.dccouncil.us/mendelson/CP%2015%20Legislation.pdf

(l)https://code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/code/titles/2/chapters/12/subchapters/XIII/

This article "Gangplank Marina" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Gangplank Marina. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---