A serial entrepreneur who set up a business refurbishing and selling floating homes in Sausalito has filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court against Marin County, alleging that building officials there discriminated against him because he is Black, putting him through a nightmare of bureaucratic hurdles and processes not applied to white houseboat owners.
To business owner Dietrick Burks, it seemed like a perfect Bay Area twist on the sort of house-flipping business model that has become a staple of cable television: buy floating homes being displaced from no-frills Dock Town Marina in Redwood City, which was being redeveloped, and tow them to be tricked out in affluent Sausalito marinas where such residential vessels regularly fetch well over $1 million.
At first, the enterprise seemed to be going according to plan. The first remodeled vessel, which was a partnership with a white veteran of the Sausalito floating home communities, was advertised in 2020 as a “luxurious floating home with a nautical flare.” It had French oak floors, views of Belvedere and a “boat dock for your Boston Whaler, kayaks and boards.” A World War II-era pilot house had been added as a third floor office. It sold for about $1.4 million…