Bizarre moment large, shingled houseboat floats across San Francisco Bay after its owners were evicted from nearby marina following years of legal wrangles
A large shingled houseboat was seen floating across San Francisco Bay after its owners were evicted from the nearby marina that once housed more than 100 residents.
The watercraft is the second-to-last floating home at California’s Redwood City marina, after the city paid out millions of dollars to residents to vacate their boat homes and relocate, as reported by SFGate.
The two-story wooden house began its journey from the Docktown Marina and anchored Tuesday in Richardson Bay, off the coast of Sausalito, according to local reports.
Efforts to evict residents living aboard began in 2015, and the legal battle between frustrated residents of Docktown Marina and Redwood City had lasted for years since then.
Last October, the city paid more than $1 million to settle lawsuits filed by boaters, who have since left the marina after calling it home for decades.
A large shingled houseboat was seen floating across San Francisco Bay after its owners were evicted from the nearby marina that once housed more than 100 residents
The watercraft is the second-to-last floating home at California’s Redwood City marina, after the city paid out millions of dollars to residents to vacate their boathouses and relocate.
Efforts to evict residents living aboard began in 2015, and the legal battle between frustrated residents of Docktown Marina and Redwood City had raged on for years since then.
The U.S. Coast Guard oversaw the transfer of the shingled boathouse, which was towed by a smaller boat as it glided through the water across the bay.
Videos and photos posted by social media users captured the massive two-story home floating under the Bay Bridge Monday morning.
Officials clarified that the house was able to float because it was on a barge with the help of a much smaller tugboat.
Although it is currently docked near the Richardson Bay Bridge, it is unclear where its final destination will be.
The Docktown Marina was operated by the city of Redwood for decades before the city was sued in 2015 by attorney Ted Hannig and an anonymous group.
The lawsuit alleged that Docktown violated public land use laws as the marina is state-owned and was not zoned for residential use.
Redwood City ultimately paid $1.5 million to Hannig and his group and allocated at least $3 million to clean up pollution at the marina.
The U.S. Coast Guard oversaw the transfer of the shingled boathouse, which was towed by a smaller boat as it glided through the water across the bay
Although it is currently docked near the Richardson Bay Bridge, it is unclear where its final destination will be. Pictured: Floating homes docked in Sausalito
Slanker and his wife were paid $190,000 for relocation and $8,000 for their attorney’s fees later that year. They left the marina within two weeks of the court papers being signed
After years of eviction efforts, most residents left, and last July only nine boaters remained in their floating homes in the marina.
“We forgot, you know, we’re treated like second-class, third-class citizens,” said resident Nina Peschcke-Koedt.
“I just can’t stand it because every day there’s another boat going out,” said Edward Stancil, one of the remaining residents. ABC7 at the time.
“And it’s just really sad to see affordable housing being crushed.” You know?’ he added. He had lived in the marina since 1986.
‘In my specific situation, I have a retirement income and it is not enough to rent a house in Silicon Valley,
‘Every tenant still there doesn’t want any money. We just want to stay.’ he said.
A jury decided in October that the city had to pay more than $300,000 to Stancil and three other residents.
“The feeling is that we are not wanted here,” said another resident Dan Slanker at the time.
“It’s really gone downhill since the 2016 Docktown plan, which I think should have been a relocation plan rather than a relocation plan.
‘Displacement comes second only to the loss of a loved one. And it seems like we’re getting more and more people displaced as time goes on, and even less and less compensation.
“I think something could be worked out if it took some effort,” he said.
‘Anchor-outs’ living rent-free on Richardson Bay are being evicted from the waters they call home, under an initiative aimed at protecting the marine ecosystem
Chad Wycliffe, 41, worries he won’t be able to afford the rent on land next to a spot in a marina if his boat is towed out of the bay
Slanker and his wife were paid $190,000 for relocation and $8,000 for their attorney’s fees later that year. They left the marina within two weeks of the court papers being signed.
San Francisco has a history of housing communities of permanently anchored sailors, but their shipboard lifestyle has faced challenges in recent years.
San Francisco Bay contains approximately 3,000 acres of eelgrass, the second largest habitat in all of California, and local officials are aiming to preserve it through the creation of an “Eelgrass Protection Zone.”
Biologists argue that the bay’s marine health depends on the seagrass that provides spawning habitat for the herring that form the base of the food chain.
About 400 hectares of seagrass are found in Richardson Bay, of which about 75 have been lost due to chains and anchors dragging across the seabed.
But the anchor-outs emphasize that the real culprits are agricultural fertilizer runoff and illegal yacht dumping.
Nevertheless, local agencies are working to relocate the sailors in phases as part of a $3 million program launching in 2021.