TRAVERSE CITY — A Traverse City business is hoping to get a yes vote tonight from the city commission on an agreement that would allow them to start their 2025 season.
Kayak, Bike & Brew uses city property as part of their business and needs approval from the city to operate. A new agreement extension is on the agenda for the April 21 City Commission Meeting.
“It’s already the end of April and we don’t have any of our tickets on sale.”
Kayak, Bike & Brew has been in operation for 10 years. This spring, Summer and Fall will be their 11th season giving tours of Traverse City’s breweries from kayaks and bikes. That’s if city leaders sign off on a new agreement between the business and the city.
“So, it’s a lot more than just us. It’s affecting a lot of people,” Kayak Bike and Brew owner Troy Daily said. “We had COVID-19 and a lot of construction, and the fish pass was all held up. But during that time, my agreement had basically quadrupled, over quadrupled from $8,000 up to about $40,000 last year. I paid $49,000 as a license agreement. Even amongst all the construction and projects in bridges and things, there was a huge hurdle. So, because of that, over the last few years, our numbers have significantly decreased because of the construction.”
The new agreement would decrease daily rent by roughly 62% to $30,000 and also drop the number of people allowed per season from 41,000 to 24,000. If passed, this agreement would only be for one year because the city wants feedback on how the city’s park should be used.
‘What we’re going to look at is we’re going to partner with our parks and recreation commission to get a lot of public input on what the priorities of the members of our community are in terms of requests like this?” City Clerk Benjamin Marentette said. “What should the fee structure sort of value? What should the what’s the philosophy of the community for the commercial use of city park land for tours? So, there are all sorts of pros and cons, and we just want to gain the pulse of our residents and then develop a policy in a more consistent and logically based framework for vetting these types of requests.”
But because Kayak Bike & Brew has had to wait for approval, their season will start a little later. Daily hopes that the start isn’t far off.