Probe launched over boatyard’s storage fees

LAHAINA » The state has started an investigation into a Lahaina boatyard’s practice of collecting storage fees from boaters near the Mala boat ramp.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources is investigating whether the owner of the Mala Boat Yard is allowed to collect rent from boaters under his revocable month-to-month lease with the state, the Maui News reported.

In the meantime, the state evicted six boats from the site last month because the department says the vessels were on state property outside of the yard’s leased boundaries.

Wilson Keahi, who runs the boatyard with his grandson, said Friday that he has done nothing wrong and that he is working with the department and the evicted boat owners. The state apparently changed the terms of his lease without telling him, Keahi said.

At least a dozen boats are stored in the boatyard a couple of hundred feet from the Mala boat ramp. Boat owners said they are paying Keahi $400 to $500 a month for storage.