Jessica Cejnar / Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021 @ 4:59 p.m. / Local Government
Developer Promises to Present Harbor Redevelopment Project Scope to Concerned RV Park Residents
This vacant lot at Anchor and Starfish ways at the Crescent City Harbor is the site of a new 14-space RV park.
Though asked to consider a lease agreement involving another piece of property, Crescent City Harbor commissioners urged developer Alex Lemus to give a presentation on his plans to redevelop the port, showing the different areas that will be involved.
Board President Brian Stone noted that the proposed agreement between the harbor district and Lemus’s company, Renewable Energy Capital, to lease a 39,139 square-foot lot at Anchor and Starfish ways was one piece of a larger puzzle.
Lemus agreed to Stone’s request, saying he hopes that it would quiet Bayside RV Park residents’ fears that they would be asked to move to make way for a $2 million-$2.5 million beautification project.
“Maybe that’ll make it easier for people to get comfortable with the work being done,” Lemus said Tuesday.
According to the Crescent City Harbor District’s staff report, REC plans to turn the southwest vacant lot at Starfish Way and Anchor Way into an RV park. This includes adding electrical and sewer service as well as potentially constructing berms to protect the lot from water and debris from the ocean, according to Lemus.
Lemus said the plan is for the new park to house 14 RV spaces.
All improvements that exceed $10,000 would be subject to the Harbor District’s approval, according to the staff report. If approved, REC would pay the Harbor District $46,956 in rent annually at an annual escalation rate of 2 percent for 25-40 years, according to the staff report.
“Twenty-five for us is really the minimum,” Lemus said. “And even being aggressive on assumptions, it’s not really that profitable for us and only makes sense as part of a bigger project.”
Lemus, who also developed the solar panel system at the Crescent City Harbor, answered a request for proposal from the district to redevelop “designated areas within the district’s boundaries.” The goal is to promote the harbor’s future growth.
On Aug. 3, Lemus presented his plan, which includes improvements to the old Spotty’s Car Wash and Oil Change and old Englund Marine buildings and parking lots as well as the revitalization of Bayside RV Park to increase the number of overnight visitors while retain existing visitors.
Lemus’s plan includes landscaping, trees, bushes, plants, patios, decks, walkway, permeable paving and fencing.
REC also plans to purchase Airstream Trailers and park cabins for overnight stays at Bayside RV Park.
At that Aug. 3 meeting, several Bayside RV Park residents accused Lemus and Harbor commissioners of putting veterans and single mothers on the street.
On Tuesday, despite ongoing attempts to allay their fears, including outright stating that the Harbor District had no plans to ask anyone to leave, residents continued to accuse commissioners of “kicking families out on the street with nowhere to go.”
One resident, Christopher Jones, said he plans to bring an attorney to the Harbor District’s next meeting.
“I have no place to go,” he said. “And there’s a lot of vets in that trailer park that are in the same situation.”
Residents also asked Crescent City Harbormaster Tim Petrick about a potential relocation assistance program.
Petrick said the Harbor District and Lemus would be responsible for a relocation program “should that be necessary.”
“Nothing that we talk about with Alex as far as Bayside goes requires relocation at this point,” Petrick told the public Tuesday.