Supervisors Delay Vote on Key Harbor Leases

Ventura County supervisors on Tuesday delayed a vote on proposed long-term leases for several properties at Channel Islands Harbor after one official said she needed more time to review the contracts.

Supervisor Linda Parks requested the delay, saying four days was not long enough to comb through documents that could lock the county into agreements for as long as 50 years.

Parks said she didn’t get the thick stack of documents until Thursday. Although the Board of Supervisors instructed harbor Director Lyn Krieger to begin negotiations a year ago, Parks was seated in January and so did not take part in earlier discussions on the issue.

“I really don’t feel I have sufficient information to vote,” Parks said.

The agreements concern several apartment buildings, the Lobster Trap restaurant and Casa Sirena Hotel, all currently operated by Channel Island Harbor Investment Co.

County officials say the investment firm’s parent company, based in Dallas, allowed the restaurant and hotel properties to fall into disrepair after it gained control of the leases in 1996.

In return for giving up its leases on the restaurant and hotel, the firm would receive 50-year extensions for the lucrative apartment contracts under the agreements proposed by the county. The county hopes to begin renovating the area, called Fisherman’s Wharf, early next year and lure new tenants to the harbor.

If the contracts are approved, the restaurant and hotel would be sold to new developers who would have to agree to invest considerable sums to upgrade them.

Supervisors see the new leaseholds as critical to reviving the flagging harbor. But they unanimously agreed to put off a vote until Sept. 9, when they reconvene after an August break.

“Given the magnitude of what we are doing and the long-term impact on the county, I don’t want to push the board into a decision they are not ready to make,” said board Chairwoman Judy Mikels.