TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF NOVEMBER 5, 2015
COMMITTEE ON REAL ESTATE
Mr. David St. Pierre, Executive Director
Title
Authority to grant a 2,125 sq. ft. non-exclusive easement to the Wilmette Harbor Association to operate, maintain, repair, and remove a crane and a walkway on the District’s North Shore Channel Parcel 1.14 in Wilmette, Illinois. Consideration shall be an initial annual fee of $5,000.00
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Dear Sir:
The Wilmette Harbor Association (“WHA”) leases 6.19 acres of District real estate located at 20 Harbor Drive in Wilmette, Illinois and known as North Shore Channel Parcels 1.02, 1.03 and 1.04 to operate and maintain the Wilmette Harbor and to provide boat mooring slips. WHA has occupied this site under a series of leases and permits since 1938, with the current lease expiring in 2052. WHA pays an annual rent of $67,000.00 in addition to performing annual dredging of the Harbor.
WHA has requested an easement through the adjacent Sheridan Shore Yacht Club (“Yacht Club”) leasehold to operate its crane and access certain boat mooring slips. The Yacht Club has occupied its leasehold under a series of leases since 1926, with the current lease expiring March 6, 2016. Since 1938, the WHA and the Yacht Club leaseholds have operated in conjunction with each other, including use and operation of a crane and access across a walkway on the Yacht Club’s leasehold site. The WHA is the only entity operating and maintaining the crane as it is used to lift boats in and out of the Wilmette Harbor. The crane is also used by the WHA to aid the US Coast Guard in its search and rescue missions and for lifting and lowering the Coast Guard’s boats in and out of the Harbor. The easement will comprise of two areas; a 1,036 sq. ft. area to operate, maintain, and repair the crane and a 1,089 sq. ft. area to access and maintain a walkway used to access seven mooring slips for a total easement area of 2,125 sq. ft. Although the easement is non-exclusive, any easement grant will provide for the exclusive use and operation of the crane by the WHA. A thirty-seven year easement is recommended in this instance to allow for the easement to expire simultaneously with WHA’s lease in 2052. The easement will be subject to the consent of the Yacht Club, who has already indicated that it will provide such consent.
The District’s technical departments have no objections to granting the easement. A fair market value fee of the easement premises would yield a fee less than the District’s minimum $5,000.00 fee. The District’s standard minimum fee of $5,000.00 is therefore recommended.
It is requested that the Executive Director recommend to the Board of Commissioners that it grant a 2,125 sq. ft. non-exclusive easement to the Wilmette Harbor Association to operate, maintain, repair, and remove a crane and a walkway on the District’s North Shore Channel Parcel 1.14 in Wilmette, Illinois. Consideration shall be an initial annual fee of $5,000.00.
Requested, Ronald M. Hill, General Counsel, RMH:STM:vp
Recommended, David St. Pierre, Executive Director
Respectfully Submitted, Mariyana T. Spyropoulos, Chairman Committee on Real Estate Development
Disposition of this agenda item will be documented in the official Regular Board Meeting Minutes of the Board of Commissioners for November 5, 2015
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