• News
• Beaconsfield

Little has changed at Beaconsfield yacht clubs

JULIA KILPATRICK
The Gazette
Thursday, August 21, 2008

Town council has done little to improve access to yacht clubs for residents of Beaconsfield, despite passing a resolution last summer to do just that.
“A plan is not worth much if you don’t follow through on it,” said Karin Essen, president of the Beaconsfield Citizens’ Association. Essen brought up the issue at a council meeting recently and received a disappointing response.
“To be honest, we haven’t done anything,” Mayor Bob Benedetti told the Gazette. “We haven’t had a huge demand except from the BCA to do this.”
In July 2007, Beaconsfield council resolved to make the Beaconsfield and Lord Reading Yacht Clubs more accessible to residents in response to pressure from the association.
Non-members raised concerns over the cost of repairs to the municipally-owned facilities because the properties don’t generate tax revenue for the city. Since 2005, Beaconsfield taxpayers have spent roughly $760,000 to repair the Beaconsfield clubhouse. Roof repairs for the Lord Reading clubhouse in 2007 cost the city $27,000, and a major restoration of the sea wall is expected to cost up to $400,000.
Benedetti said those costs, like repairs to any municipally-owned facility, are considered capital expenditures. And while the buildings are tax and rent-free, the users pay the costs of operations and upkeep.
Membership fees, which gross $500,000 annually, allow the non-profit Beaconsfield Yacht Club to pay for other maintenance or building costs incurred on the property. A similar arrangement is in place at Lord Reading.
Essen and other critics argue that their tax dollars should not be spent on clubs that aren’t open to the general public and don’t return services to the communities.