Sailing Club planning membership changes

The Coconut Grove Sailing Club is considering eliminating social memberships. Current members will be able to vote on this at the annual meeting on June 4. There have been a series of forums to discuss the club's proposed new plan for memberships.

The Coconut Grove Sailing Club is on City-owned land and is only where it is today because of the community's support. They opened their door to social members in order to play nice with the community and now they want to close their doors on community members using the facilities.

The Sailing Club is on prime City waterfront property.

There are currently two types of memberships, Social and General, Social is where you pay a nominal fee per year for the privilege of using the club to have a burger or drink. General Memberships between $900 and $1,000, allow members to park in their lot and if there is dock space available, they have the right to that and/or to store a boat or take classes, etc.

Their new plan is interesting because what they would lower the General Membership fee and eliminating the Social Membership fee.

In the past, we have promoted events that they have sent us to promote, but apparently, the only people permitted to the events are General or Social members, but not the general public. People have been turned away for concerts, pig roasts, spaghetti night and more.

There is a meeting to discuss the membership policy at at the Sailing Club among members on Wednesday, May 26. This is for members only, the public will be invited to an open house to discuss the subject in the future.