Tahoe Keys Marina’s troubles keep growing
This sailboat on July 4 had to go out on the left to have enough clearance in the water. Photos/Kathryn Reed
By Kathryn Reed
Tahoe Keys Marina is in a bit of turmoil. Lawsuits, OSHA investigations and financial troubles have been issues since the ownership change.
Donna and Robert Krilich bought the Tahoe Keys Marina in early 2009 for more than $20 million. South Shore real estate agent Jean Merkelbach has a minority interest in the marina.
But the Krilichs and Merkelbach are now fighting each other in court. Neither party was available for comment.
In early 2013, the Krilichs bought the Fresh Ketch restaurant at the marina from longtime owner Bob Hassett. At the time, the El Dorado County Assessor’s Office listed the value of the property and business at $1,224,913.
Speculation among those dealing the marina is the owners will default on their financial obligations.
“I don’t think we have filed bankruptcy. There has been some talks about it because of some of the litigation,” Robert Krilich Jr. told Lake Tahoe News. Krilich runs his parents’ Krilich Companies, which is based in Illinois.
The marina’s attorney, Bob Anderson, said at this time bankruptcy is not going to happen.
The Safari Rose charter boat just left the Keys because of the low water level. It is now operating out of Round Hill Pines, which for the first season is run by Hassett.
Tahoe Keys Marina has been in trouble since the ownership changed five years ago.
The Tahoe Keys Marina never applied for a dredging permit from the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board. Lake Tahoe’s water level continues to drop because of the prolonged drought. This means some boats won’t be able to get out of or into the marina.
The U.S. Coast Guard, which has a station in Tahoe City, has not yet told the marina operators to warn boaters of the low water level.
Boats besides the Safari Rose are abandoning the marina because the channel is getting too precarious to navigate. On Fourth of July the marina had someone at the entrance of the channel into the docks warning people how to navigate the water. People in the condos were also helping, including directing some boats to stay on the left side to get out because that is where the deepest waters are. (New this year, the marina closed the launch at 9pm instead of midnight on July 4. A worker had no reason for the change.)
Vendors are also complaining they are not getting paid by the marina.
Anderson, the marina’s attorney, has his hands full with legal issues involving the marina. A 21-page 1991 agreement between the marina, Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association, and Tahoe Keys Beach and Harbor Association is at the center of one dispute. The document dictates how the three organizations work together, who pays what to whom and for what. Potable water and water quality are two key issues.
The disagreements have only arisen since the Krilichs took over the marina.
The Krilichs are familiar with the court system – civil and criminal. In 2013, they won a multimillion-dollar lawsuit over a land deal.
Locally, the problem is the marina owners are accused of not paying the bills TKPOA has submitted.
Scott Brooke, the attorney representing TKPOA, deferred comment to the association. However, interim General Manager Dan Moore did not return multiple phone calls.
Anderson also did not want to speak about the disagreements.
These aren’t the only troubles for the marina. The Cal-OSHA investigation is continuing. The state Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened the investigation earlier this year regarding how equipment is maintained and other safety issues.
South Lake Tahoe building officials have also been on site.
“We didn’t find anything of imminent danger,” Dave Walker with the city’s building department told Lake Tahoe News. “There were some minor things.” He said nothing was so egregious to warrant needing to shut down any business.
But Walker admitted it is hard to completely match up all the permits the city has issued and the work that was done.
“They have pulled quite a few permits over the years. When you go back 25, 30 years the description on the permits is limited so it is hard to see how much is permitted (compared to the) scope of work,” Walker said. “It would be very tough to nail down every little change. There are lots of plans, lots of permits. That’s why we kept mainly to life and safety issues. We didn’t see anything that would jeopardize anybody.”
One business practice Walker said has to stop is the marina has been using two of three residential units as vacation rentals. This is illegal.
So we all pay the price as nepherious interests drain the profit and value of one of SLT most precious resources.
Clearly every penny is going to be siphoned off before the inevitible Denise if this ownership: leaving the gateway to our summer economy shuttered and in ruins.
Who’s Denise?
So who was the man standing in the condo area screaming at people as we left the marina?
My husband and I were barely going 5 miles an hour and the guy starts yelling at us to slow down! No one else in the boat, no alcohol. Just looking for a nice evening out. To start it all off, this jerk happened.
A boat full of guys going much faster, and not a word.
fill in the keys, re-veg it back to the largest meadow/marsh in the sierra that it was originally.. send all those second home owners back to sacramento. They are ruining this community’s culture.
A little history on the family–The marina mgr is equally as crooked.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-03-23/news/9503230080_1_bank-fraud-tax-charges-check-writing-scheme
Great, because the new owners appear to have more money than common sense, it looks like I’ll have to pull my boat early this season. Thanks for making a short summer even shorter because you aren’t doing what’s necessary to properly maintain the marina.
Please sell the business before next season to someone that knows what they’re doing.
BC. Your an Idiot. Fill in the keys. The largest property tax and best place to live in south shore. The Community culture is Poverty With a View here in south lake. How about we get rid of all the trailer parks. Sorry if that includes your place.
Can’t even dredge his marina. This joker is the poster child of incompetitant business operators. He will be running off tourists as long as he keeps shooting from the hip and not actively planning to accommodate them. Thank you so much for putting the pieces together and providing the crystal ball. The future looks bleak if business operators like this are dismantling the essence of the tourism industry. Lest we keep the tourists at (San Franscisco) Bay.
These are some of the facts!
The marina owners have been paid by the holders to do the dredging & the marina has no plans to do dredging but will still keep the money that they’ve been paid.
As far as the building department goes they have been given a detailed description of the construction that’s been done in the last five years including the removal of a fire exit at the fresh ketch but are choosing to do nothing about it.
As far as the illegal vacation rentals at the marina once again both units were rented over the weekend for $2700.
The TK Marina has been adding an extra charge specifically for dredging to its dock renters’ rent for years.
Here’s one more lawsuit to add to its lengthy list.
Isn’t taking money for a service and not providing the service called theft. Marina charges every slip a monthly dredgeing fee and is keeping the money. Where is the DA’s office?
Until people actually stop patronizing the business at the keys marina they will continue to provide poor quality services. There are other business out there that can accomodate boaters, camp richardson is a great place to moor your boat and gas up. Obexers can store your boat over winter and they can launch or remove your boat. Remember what boat stands for Break Out Another Thousand. As far as the fresh ketch goes, wouldnt go back there since bob hasset sold it. Too many problems and corners cut. Scary situation.
Camp Rich hasn’t offered launching for years now, due to low water levels. Plus Hasset, is always charging top prices for buoys. Your boat is subject to wind waves all the time.
I agree, the Keys Marina, Ketch and all other related services is on a downward spiral to dirt bag level. I have steered MANY potential patrons to other spots. The Keys Marina is quickly becoming as low life, as it’s owners. YES, PULEEEZE sell it so someone competent can take over and restore it. You idiots are not wanted here. Go back to Chicago or some other rat infested city. You will fit right in.
Once again; great job reporting Kathryn. Too bad law enforcement is choosing to look the other way
Kind of funny how everyone used to complain about Ray Careau and how he ran the marina. Guess one of those situations careful what you wish for.
You should all check out the story on this site back on Feb. 9, 2013 about the sale of the Fresh Ketch. Some blogger called Tahoe Kid was proclaiming that The Ketch was going to be the hottest spot in town?! Where’s that blogger now?
that blogger works at or owns the Marina. Duh
Obviously sailor1! Or he/she is some other type of shill for the owners. Just where is this person now with his/her ridiculous claims?
fireman, Yes people did complain about Ray Careau when he had Keys Marina, but I never had a problem with him.I haven’t heard much good about the new owners and manager of the Marina but that could be hearsay as I haven’t met them personally so I’ll withold judgement.
My boat is stayin’ on the trailer this summer but to those out there on the lake “Happy Boating!” and watch for submerged obstacles, boulders just under the surface, old trees underwater, the sand bar that runs WAY out fom So. Shore, etc. Ahoy! OLS
Ray Carreau retrieved the dilapidated marina around 1980 and did a remarkable task of reviving it to its highest level. Yes, some say he was expensive, but, yes, he did it right, with quality and responsibility.
What do you call a marina with no lake access because the owners decided not to dredge the channel? A swamp.
Clearly, from some of the larger boats that never put-in and the boats having to move out due to water level concerns the marina is already losing money from dock rentals and gas sales because they haven’t dredged. With the higher than normal temperatures this year it’s going to get ugly in a hurry.
Please sell the marina before next season…
Can’t believe the US Coast Guard has not gotten involved. Ski Run, the Keys, Sand Harbor and Emerald Bay are all accidents waiting to happen.
FYI
The cost to dredge the Marina channel is approximately $300,000.oo . More than that has been collected from the slip holders by the Marina. The GM Spinnato has been telling the slip holders all season long that they were going to dredge & made them pay up front for the season. So now they have everyone’s $$$$ & the channel will soon be impassable.
Eminent domain for the purpose of public safety? I’ll bet that even the City of South Lake Tahoe could make money on the Tahoe Keys. There IS precedent for such action.
The Keys Marina? Mother nature may just take it back! Sound far fetched? Yep, but here’s my idea. The lake level continues to drop over the next several years. The Marina and all those canals start to dry up exposing all the milfoil which becomes a natural compost. With a ittle soil added and some native plants and rerouting the river back to where it used to be we have what was there all those year ago. THE TRUCKEE MARSH! Lake Tahoe’s natural filter and home to all kinds of wildlife. Saw a beaver there as a young boy and all kinds of frogs and birds and lots of fish!
The people that stay there despite the loss of their docks and lawns live in a wildlife wonderland.
I know that sounds crazy and will probably never happen. But I can dream, can’t I? OLS
Ols, now thats a dream I want to have too. Just think of the possibilities, the wildlife, the birding opportunities, teaching opportunities for our local school kids. Really the possibilities are abundant. Keep the dream alive. It just might happen
Hear hear OLS!
Been going to the TK Marina for 20 years…NEVER again. Tried to pull my boat on Saturday and they wanted another $42 because we did not have our receipt, we had our credit card company issue transaction number and transaction date…not acceptable. “pay the $42, or we call the police….” We usually tip the college students $20 help my wife back the trailer in….no more $35 charge for that and no tips for the students. 5 other boaters were arguing with the manager when we left.
So, how is it Tahoe Keys Marina won the 2014 Best of Tahoe Best Marina category??
Jean Merkelbach involved in yet another lawsuit. “Surprise, surprise” said no one. I don’t understand how anyone would do business with her.
People of the Keys deserve better, and so do all the others who pay through the nose for the facilities.
Ray Careau (I’ll trust you, OLS, for the spelling) could be a hard head but, in my experience, he always wound up in a fair position. Eventually.
In the seventies and eighties I had a home in Tahoe Island Park IV and, as part of the title, had a dock in the homeowner’s section of the Marina. Where I kept my 21′ “yacht” – a sailboat with about a 4 horsepower auxiliary.
Despite all, I never wanted to live in Tahoe Keys (not that I could afford it); it seemed a bit barren – I remember before 15th street was extended into the Keys there were few, if any homes past that point and it was rarely, if ever plowed. One mid winter a friend and I took our off road motorcycles for a ride there and discovered, in short order, that riding through snow wasn’t even slightly like riding dirt.
As somewhat of an environmentalist, I hated the Tahoe Keys development. On a more practical level, I never would have lived with the restrictions on fence heights in back yards, personally valuing privacy over sight lines.
I no longer live at the Lake, but live close enough that I get there from time to time. Whenever I drive through Tahoe Keys these days I’m impressed with how attractive the area has become, mostly because the trees and vegetation have grown to the point that the whole area looks natural.
If there was ever a time to advocate returning Tahoe Keys to nature, it’s long since passed. It’s enough for me that environmentalists, of which I am, I suppose, a shirt tailed cousin (albeit a dues paying member of the Sierra Club – I support several organizations to which I don’t feel the need for 100% loyalty), have made any future similar development an impossibility.
But, anti-government screwballs notwithstanding, the City of South Lake Tahoe needs to regulate and oversee its community in favor of the citizens rather than special interests. Tahoe Keys, its community, its marina, its other appropriate commercial enterprises have got to be supported. And, to contribute the horrible “R” word, regulated in favor of the citizens.
The Keys is our own little piece of flatlander suburban hell. It is the Texas of Tahoe. If it weren’t the reason for the destruction of the largest wetland in The Sierra, I would be content with just letting it be, not going there, and happy that it keeps the type of people who waste money on lawns in the desert away from me.
Live by the sword, die by the sword. The mentality that gave birth to The Keys will continue to be a problem.
Geology will take care of that cesspool, too many well irrigated lawns to rely on fire. No sympathy here.
An early Keys memory… My Mom and Dad wanted to see what this new development was all about. So we hop in the car and head out.
The dredging of the marsh was done but the trucks were still moving dirt around to be used for the roads and the lots to be built on. The roads were not paved, just humped up dirt roadways, no houses, no trees. No nothin’ really. The water looked like chocolate milk and stunk REALLY bad. My Dad turned the car around in a dead end road and said “Who the hell would want to live out here!”
Granted ,it looks much better now than it did in the early construction phase, but I guess that could be said for any housing development. It’s just a shame this development was built on such fragile and enviromently important land.
For many years you could see from the top of Heavenly Valley, a huge plume of brown stuff spewing from the main channel of the Keys out into the lake. Quite visable and quite gross!
Just thought I’d share a childhood memory. OLS
Long Skiis:
The development of the Keys was before my time in Tahoe but I’ve always wondered how that came about and how it was ever approved. Any insights?
Thanks.
4-mer-usmc, The Keys were built before the city of SLT was formed and everything was run out of Placerville, which as I recall, had one building inspector at the time and he rarely made it to the lake.
All the myriad of govt.agencies and envioromental groups that are here now, were not in existence at the time the Keys were built.
Looking back on it, it was a crazy time! Homes being built everywhere, the casinos going hi-rise,talk of tunneling thru Echo Summit, a bridge across the mouth of Emerald Bay and and lots of other crazy stuff.
There was little if any oversight or regulation. As people started taking notice of what was happening and what was proposed they spoke out. Then came the regulatory agencies and groups trying to save what was left of our beautiful place we call home…a little too late, I’m afraid! It’s still going on today!
There’s more I could say, but I’ve gone on too long as it is. Take care, Old Long Skiis
http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/19990908/NEWS/109086943
Thank-you Long Skiis and Ski Bum.
I remember as a child camping in Tahoe with my Mom and Dad in the middle to later part of the 1950’s and my Father (who had been coming to Tahoe throughout his entire life with his Dad and Grandfather) being furious about something that was going to be built but I was too young to really understand all of what he was talking about. I do remember my Father and Mother looking out on the Lake in the direction where I assume this development they were so angry over would be built and my Father saying it would destroy the Lake and I think he said the shoreline and meadow also. Interesting for me to learn all these years later that they were likely talking about the Keys.
Thanks for the info and for filling in the gap of a childhood memory.
Spouse – 4-mer-usmc
Not saying the Marina hasn’t been dropping the ball, but seems like people are really frustrated that the lake level is dropping. Look around the lake, how many docks are usable without floating extensions? Overall trend for Tahoe over the past 40 years has been what again…? and how about the rest of California lakes? Rather go boating there? We have it much better than many other people right now, and I for one will continue to enjoy boating in Tahoe this summer! Come join me for a cold on ski beach!
No one here is saying this or no one knows this but the pump out at the Keys has been broken for a month. When you ask the slaves, excuse me the employees, they are told to say the part has been ordered for it and will be here tomorrow or the next day and will be fixed that day. That has been the pat answer for a month. I wonder why it is taking so long to get what they say is a simple part here? Has there pump out been shut down by the local authority or is there another reason? Not having a pump out available is very dangerous. The water level at Camp Rich gas dock (the next closest pump out) is about 2 feet (not accessible for most boats) People are going to start doing some illegal bad things with their waste if it is not fixed soon. Way to go TKM d-bags! Kathryn do you have any info on this?