Medina approves fee for long-term lease in canal at $35 a foot per boat size
Fee for whole season includes dedicated dock space and utilities
Photo by Tom Rivers: This 34-foot-long yacht was in Medina’s Canal Basin over the weekend. Brian Hellner and his son Rollin want to make it available as an Airbnb for short-term overnight rentals.
MEDINA – The Village Board, after months of discussion and research, on Monday evening approved a fee for leasing dock space in the Canal Basin. Medina will be charging $35 per foot for boats to have exclusive access to a dock for the entire canal season.
That $35 a foot also includes utilities – water, electricity and a dump station to pump out sewage.
Medina has two requests to have boats utilized as Airbnbs or short-term overnight rentals for the canal season, which runs until Oct. 14.
Brian Hellner and his son Rollin want to make a 34-foot-long yacht available for rent. At $35 a foot, the fee for dedicated dock space will be $1,190 for the season.
The Erie Floatel, LLC also is seeking a lease for its house boat. That 24-foot-long boat will have to pay $840. The Erie Floatel is operated by Andrew Meier and Svein Lilleby
The Erie Floatel debuted last year as the first short-term rental to be stationed at Medina in the Erie Canal. Last year, the lease agreement was $220 for dedicated space at the south end of the canal, plus $100 for electric and water consumption for the season.
The two boats will be on the eastern end of Medina’s docking area to free up space along the basin wall for transient users. Village Trustee Jeff Wagner said transient users who are visiting Medina can continue to use the docks for free.
Wagner said he was in frequent discussions with the State Canal Corp. about a lease fee and dedicated dock space for long-term users. The Canal Corp. told him there has been a surge in requests to have boats used as short-term rentals on the canal.
The boat owners who want to use them as Airbnbs also need to get a permit from the Canal Corp.
Brian Hellner, owner of the North Star II boat, asked the Village Board to prorate the charge and knock a third off the cost because the canal season started on May 15.
But Wagner said the season is still in the early stages with the whole summer ahead. The board declined Hellner’s request.
Hellner operated a boat ride business from a 20-foot-long pontoon boat in the basin from 2023 to 2025 but is taking a break from that this year. With that business, in 2023 he was charged $125 a month or $625 for the season to have exclusive access to one of the docks.
