Report Archive

Our Committee is gearing up for the next legislative session, which starts on the second Monday of January 2011. We have renewed the contract with our lobbyist, Nick Federici, and had a very productive meeting with him earlier this summer to plan for activities related to revisions to the Shoreline Master Plan regarding floating homes. We are not expecting to see anything concrete from the Department of Planning and Development until early next year. Please see related article by Amalia Walton, Chair of the SMP Task Force. Also, please remember to check this website for on-going information or breaking news.

See related New FHA Lobbyist.

The 2010 Regular Legislative Session concluded on March 11.  Unfinished work, however, necessitated a week long Special Session, which began on March 15.  

When our lobbyist, Mike Ryherd, retired last summer the search was on for a replacement.  

We knew this would be a difficult task given Mike's long history advocating for the houseboat community but, after many interviews with some great candidates, we were lucky to hire Nick Federici.  Nick has been hard at work for us since October, lobbying both at the City and State level.

It is with much regret that I have to report that Mike Ryherd, the Floating Homes Association's lobbyist for over 20 years retired at the end of the 2009 legislative session.  Mike has been such a force for us in Olympia that we were totally dismayed to hear this news, but happy for Mike that he's going to be able to have fun and quit worrying about everyone else for awhile. 

We are now halfway through the Legislative session and everything seems to be going well in Olympia, although we had a bit of a scare on PSSB 5255/PSHB 1077 a few days ago.  The short version is that some marina owners down on the Duwamish were feeling that the calculation for lease rates on marinas was unfair as based on upland values that vary greatly due to location.  

After appealing the decision denying a building permit for the houseboat proposed by Mark and Heather Lakefish, as reported in the last issue of the Newsletter (see Puzzling Permit Decision), the permit for the originally proposed houseboat has been issued and construction is underway.

This article is revised and updated from one that appeared in the Winter 2006 newsletter. If you will recall, Mike Ryherd, our Floating Homes Association lobbyist, Melissa Ahlers (FHA Board), and I met with Michelle Hagen, Director of Commercial/Business Division, and Joe Arnold, Commercial Appraiser, in September 2005 to have them explain how they appraise the floating homes community, both personal property (houseboat) and the land (slip) portion. The main thing we all agreed on is appraising floating homes is a very difficult job.

The Washington Department of Natural Resources Aquatics Program is in the process of developing a habitat conservation plan (HCP) for all state-owned aquatic lands for coverage under the Endangered Species Act.  DNR asked to meet with interested FHA members on July 23, to discuss how the agency can work with the FHA to establish conservation measures for floating homes in the HCP that will adequately deal with impact on covered species that use the aquatic habitat of Lake Union. A meeting was held as the FHA newsletter was going to press.