Jessica Cejnar Andrews / Tuesday, April 19, 2022 @ 5:28 p.m. / Community
Developer Tells Harbor RV Park Tenants He Won't Raise Rent or Issue Eviction Notices For At Least 12 Months
Alex Lemus, CEO of Renewable Energy Capital, hopes to upgrade Bayside and Redwood Harbor Village RV Parks in an effort to attract visitors to the Crescent City Harbor. | Image courtesy of NorCalfishmarket.com.
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The man behind a redevelopment project involving two RV parks at the Crescent City Harbor promised tenants that he wouldn’t raise rent or evict anyone without cause.
Nearly two weeks after the Crescent City Harbor District approved ground leases for Bayside and Redwood Harbor Village RV parks, Alex Lemus, CEO of Renewable Energy Capital, said he would put that promise in a letter he would send to every tenant who is in good standing.
“Everybody who’s a long-term resident who is in good standing from the effective date of our assuming the leases after the due diligence period will get 12 months with no rent increases, no eviction notices, nothing,” Lemus said Tuesday. “This will effectively give everybody a chance, about 18-24 months, to take a deep breath. And during that time we’re going to work on a lot of plans we already have in place to find long-term solutions for everybody.”
Lemus also promised to work with Harbormaster Tim Petrick to address residents’ concerns regarding illegal activity at the parks. According to Petrick, the Crescent City Harbor district has 17 for-cause evictions working its way through the court process.
“We’ve had lots of violent crime over the last year,” Petrick told the Wild Rivers Outpost. “We’ve had at least one murder. We’ve had at least one overdose that resulted in death. We have theft constantly. A lot of the destruction and damage at the harbor is really just a few tenants and we’ve been stuck with those tenants thanks to the eviction moratorium.”
Petrick said under California law, the Harbor District has to give 60-day notices to vacate as part of its eviction processes. Some were sent out in late November and are just now being finalized. The process is also expensive, he said, about $3,000-$5,000 per tenant.
Lemus said he’s looking at investing in security systems and hiring security guards at the two RV parks.
“As in most places, there is a small percentage of people who are responsible for 80-90 percent of the problems,” he said. “And that’s something we’re going to invest in and be on top of. It’s something we want to focus on for the benefit of everybody in the area who does follow the rules.”
After answering a Harbor District request for proposals for development projects that could generate revenue, Lemus in August 2021 unveiled a plan to upgrade Bayside RV Park by improving its infrastructure and landscaping. He also proposed purchasing Airstream travel trailers and cabins in an effort to draw more short-term overnight visitors.
When Lemus presented his plan to commissioners, the parks’ residents, some of whom had been living there for years, were worried that the Harbor District planned to evict them to make way for the project, though officials assured them that was not their intention.
In February, Lemus and Harbor District Board President said they would create transition plans for both RV parks and individual plans for each resident.
According to Petrick, the leases Harbor Commissioners approved on April 8 included a 180-day due diligence period that can end as soon as Lemus presents a relocation plan for tenants they are able to accept. Lemus can request a 90-day extension to that due diligence period, but he would have to make a payment equal to one month’s rent, which is about $33,000 for each lease, Petrick said.
There’s also still the question of whether or not the Harbor District is supposed to provide a third-party legal consultant who could represent the tenants’ interests, Petrick said.
“We spoke with a relocation consultant probably six months ago — we approved a small amount of money for a study from them to figure out how much relocation could potentially cost us,” Petrick said. “But things changed in the meantime, so we never followed through with that. We’ve reached out to the relocation consultant to see if she can put together a pamphlet or flyer of sorts with the tenants’ rights on it.”
Petrick said commissioners worried that it would be a conflict of interest if the Harbor District were to provide residents with a third-party arbitrator.
Gerhard Weber voiced that concern on Tuesday, telling RV park tenants that they need help.
“We, as the commissioners, we had the opportunity of talking with a relocation consultant that knew the law. Before I had no clue,” Weber said. “Guess what, most of you guys have no clue and we cannot pay for a lawyer to help you guys out. We’ve got to find a different solution of giving you information that you can act from. Obviously we can’t make the playing field level, but let’s make it less tilted.”
Bayside RV Park resident, Christopher Jones, said he tried contacting Del Norte County Legal Aid Services, but learned they were unable to support RV park residents. Jones said he then reached out to Assemblyman Jim Wood’s office and urged Harbor Commissioners to do the same.
“I would hope that we might take the time to call Jim Wood’s office and say you would be in support of the governor allocating more money to Del Norte Legal Aid Services so that we can have legal representation,” Jones told commissioners.
Board President Rick Shepherd said he and his colleagues would discuss the relocation plan for Bayside and Redwood Harbor RV Parks at the Harbor District’s second meeting in May.
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