The City Council this week voted 3-1 to receive and file the annual cruise ship report.
Councilmember Mary Schickling cast the dissenting vote. Councilmember Lisa Lavelle recused herself from the meeting.
The discussion of the quality of life versus revenue issue took up the bulk of the nearly five-hour council meeting Tuesday, Sept. 3.
There was no change to the number of cruise ships that may visit the Island.
The council made only one change to the cruise ship policy: The harbor master and the city manager must both give written approval for a fourth cruise ship to visit on weekdays and for any cruise ship to visit during the summer season.
The policy originally required written approval for by the city manager.
The change was proposed by Councilmember Yesenia De La Rosa, who said she thought the language of the council resolution gave too much power to one person.
City Manager David Maistros said the language had to do with a fourth ship, not the capacity of the ship.
According to Maistros, the discretion was the on number of ships that visit Avalon in a week.
He said the current ordinance doesn’t limit size of the ship.
De La Rosa Proposed having the approval signed by both the city manager and the harbor master. She said she would be more comfortable with that.
Council and public comments considered the conflict between quality of life for residents and the community’s fanancial needs.
First, a look at the background, then the community discussion.
Background
The cruise ship policy, which was adopted Dec. 20, 2022, limits scheduled weekday cruise ship visits to three a week and also allows the harbor master to approve “repositioning” of small vessels.
“Over the past ten fiscal years, the number of cruise ship arrivals has remained fairly consistent, ranging from 110 arrivals in FY2015-16 to 117 in FY2023-24,” wrote Finance Director Matthew Baker in his staff report to the council.
“However, the average number of passengers has increased from an average of 2,400 passengers per arrival pre-pandemic to 3,133 passengers in FY2023-24. This increase is attributable to changes in the cruise industry towards larger vessels arriving in Avalon with ten (10) arrivals in FY2023-24 exceeding 4,000 passengers,” Baker wrote.
“Cruise ship revenues now account for approximately 22% of Harbor operating revenues (Fund 103). As a result of scheduled rate increases and increased occupancy, cruise ship wharfage is the fastest growing revenue and accounts for the majority of revenue growth in the Harbor Fund,” Baker wrote.
“In addition to the wharfage revenues generated, cruise ship passengers account for approximately one third of all visitors to the City and contribute an estimated $20 million of taxable sales activity for businesses located in the City,” Baker wrote.
“Based on the 112 arrivals scheduled in the current fiscal year, assuming the approval of 2025 arrivals and 100% occupancy rates, cruise ship wharfage revenues are estimated at $1 ,987,265 in the current fiscal year,” Baker wrote.
“During the annual port facility inspection by the United States Coast Guard in July 2023, it was noted as an observation that there were long lines of cruise ship passengers waiting to return to the cruise vessel,” Baker wrote.
“The City worked closely with cruise ship and tendering operations to address the process inefficiencies which contributed to the longer lines and has since resolved the issue to the Coast Guard’s satisfaction. There were no other safety or security incidents to report in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024,” Baker wrote.
City Manager David Maistros said presenting the report was something staff normally did in December. The reason staff was asking the council to look asking the council to look at the policy now: Staff had a 2025 cruise ship schedule that ws pending that Mastros hadn’t acted on.
Maistros said staff was asking the council to keep the current cruise ship ordinance. (City Attorney Scott Campbell described it as a policy that the council could change without a meeting notice.)
“I understand the impact of the cruise ships,” Maistros said.
“The passengers are not necessarily invested in our community,” Maistros said. He waid they were here and gone in five hours.
He said it could be frustrating dealing with them.
Public discussion
Space makes it impossible to report every word of the conversation. The following is essentially a summary.
Residents who don’t depend on tourist dollars were concerned with the impact of large numbers of cruise passengers on Avalon life. Businesses that depend on visitors were concerned with protecting the local economy.
John (who didn’t provide his first name) asked if the commission that the cruise lines local the businesses came within the purview of the city?
“The short answer is no,” Maistros said.
Dave Stevenson, of the Catalina Island Company, said: “We believe the pendulum has swung to far to the large ships.”
He said the cruise ships were negativley impating the visitor experience on the island, leading to less spending.
Elena, part owner of a local business, said cruise ships have been vital part of their business, especially during the off season.
She said further restricting cruise ships would have a ripple effect.
Mayor Anni Marshall asked if she had a contract with cruise ships.
Elena said yes.
Bre Bussard, another business owner who has a contract with the cruise lines,
She said a simple change in itinerary could cause cruise ships to bypass Avalon and lead to significant decline in business.
She said she heard the concerns of residents who feel the cruise ships do not contribute to Avalon’s economy and that they contribute to littering the island.
She reminded everyone that Avalon is a tourist-driven island and not a retirement community.
“The pandemic taught us that we cannot survive without tourist dollars here in town,” Bussard said.
John said he believes the community is unvaluing themselves. He said he beleives Avalon is not really clear on the real cost of the cruise ships.
He said it was not unusual to hear that visitors would not come back here, especially on cruise ship days.
John said he was sure the council would have to add some visits but hoped council would maximize what Avalon gets from cruise ships.
“We’re not really proposing an increase in what we had before,” Marshall said.
City Manager Maistros said the current cruise ship ordinance allows three a week. That would be 156 over the course of a year a year. “We’ve come nowhere close to what’s allowed,” he said.
Maistros said you can’t raise revenues by adding more cruise ships. “I do not see us being able to add additional cruise ships.”
Marshall said the cruise ship industry realizes there’s a limit to what Avalon can handle.
Karen King of Afinshinados Gallery said within a six-week time, there were multipe cruise ships in a row. (The number was latter disputed, but Schickling confirmed three ships a week during summer months. See notes below.)
“It was pretty hellish,” King said. She heard from customers that they were not coming back.
Cinde Cassidy, a past council member, said there should be more conversation about larger vessels.
She said cruise ship wharfage revenue to the city had trippled since 2021 with no increase in the number of ships and only a small percent increase in the number of passengers.
She said 20% of the Harbor Department’s overall operating revenue came from cruise ships.
“One form of income.”
Councilmember Michael Ponce said a lot of his guests and people he has met say the first time they have been on the Island has been on a cruise ship.
Ponce said he wanted to know what are the things that you can’t do when the cruise ships are here.
Councilmember Mary Schickling said: “It’s a quality of life issue.”
Schickling pointed out that the Carnival Cruise Line vessel Firenze had a passenger capacity that she put at 4,126. (According to Schickling, the staff report had varrying numbers on the Firenze’s capacity.)
“That’s the entire population of this town,” she said.
Schickling said she had nothing against cruise ships. She appreciated that Avalon needs the money from the cruise ships.
“You can’t take 50 pounds of potatoes and put that in a 10 pound box,” she said.
“I think we should limit the size of the ships,” she said.
Schickling proposed catering to the smaller ships. She proposed limiting cruise ships to two ships in the summertime.
Another member of the pubic brought up overcrowding and long lines of passengers waiting to be tendered back to their ships.
Reffering to overcrowding, Marshall said: “I think it’s just a matter of better enforcement and traffic control.”
Bussard asked about volunteer opportunities in town to help the cruise ship passengers.
Schickling asked Maistros if he decides what cruise ships come.
Maistros said Carnival asked if they could replace some of their ships with one of their larger boats. He asked council about that a year ago. The decision was made to try it for a year.
Schickling asked what does final written approval of the city manager means?
City Manager Maistros said usually usually had a discussion with the harbor master and looedk at the master calendar.
Maistros said he only time he makes the decision is when its the fourth ship.
Schickling again asked: “Could we have just two in the summertime?”
“We’ve already done the work. Don’t fix what’s not broken,” said Cinde Cassidy.
Bussard opposed reducing number of ships in summer.
“We shouldn’t be limiting the amount of money that we could be making,” she said.
Maistros said No fourth ship had come to the Island in the last two years.
