I have an offer written down presented to me with club brochures in a club folder, everything is real as 1 dollar bill. I came in not late, offer was not expired payed application fee, got accepted as member and then and only then was billed way more, double of what the official offer was for and with very strange terms. Open ended 3 year contract. Or 100% full price for one year. No other options was given they did not offer half way, quarter way, it was there way or the highway. And if anybody thinks that this is the way to do business, I am sorry.
I hate to get involved in these things, because I am certainly no lawyer. But, I am concerned that you may possibly be reading one or more duties for yourself into the paperwork that aren't there.
Just to avoid a misunderstanding, you may want to ask the club what happens if, for example, something changes in your world and you need to leave after one year. They may tell you that there is no penalty and that you are free to leave. If you aren't comfortable with their word -- you may choose to ask a NY licensed lawyer.
My non-lawyer, not authorized to give legal advice in any state, haven't even read the paperwork involved, and am certainly not giving legal advice here impression is that the written instrument being discussed imposes no legal obligations upon you in so far as the consideration is open-ended, so, at worst, my impression is that it imposes obligations upon you for the first year. (And, it may, possibly, turn out, at least insofar as it is enforceable against you, to be month-to-month).
My non-professional understanding is that, in most cases, a contract requires /specific/, i.e. not open ended, consideration.
Beyond that, if there is a claim to be made under the promissory estoppel doctrine, in other words that a promise was made, reasonably relied upon, not upheld, and damages resulted, the claim would seem to be yours to make.
In other words, you don't seem to have any obligation to continue into years two and three, as you were given no (specific) consideration. Yet, if the club, without cause, kicked you out after the 1st year and rented the space to someone else at a rate you were be willing to pay, and you couldn't get another slip nearby or had to, for a time, pay dramatically higher transient rates while waiting for a long-term slip, it would seem you might possibly have a cause of action for the damages resulting from your reliance upon their broken promise to let you stay. Of course, to enforce that claim would take pretty favorable construction on the part of the judge, I'd guess.
Again, I am not giving you any legal advice here. My only thought is that, at least insofar as the years 2 and 3 thing go, there is perhaps some chance the paperwork may not be as painful as it might initially seem.
