Marina’s Rent Hike Makes Waves : Disputes: Ventura Isle’s attempt to charge tenants 5% more is challenged by the port district, which says dock repairs must first be done.

The waters are a bit choppy these days at the Ventura Isle Marina because of a rent dispute between the marina’s owner and the Ventura Port District.

Harry L. Nelson Jr., whose Los Angeles-based Almar Ltd. owns Ventura Isle and five other marinas along the Pacific Coast, wants to raise the rents of his approximately 600 Ventura Isle tenants by 5%, beginning Saturday.

Nelson sought approval for the rent increase from Richard Parsons, general manager of the Ventura Port District, which manages the area’s waterfront. Parsons said he tentatively found the increase “fair and reasonable” under the terms of Nelson’s lease with the district and gave it preliminary approval April 19.

But then the Port District Board of Commissioners held a public hearing April 24 and, amid some boaters’ complaints, Parsons changed his decision and rejected the increase. The district is concerned about the deterioration of docks and other facilities at Ventura Isle and wants them fixed before Nelson gets his higher rents, Parsons said.

“I don’t think we will have any trouble with the new rate once the docks are repaired,” Parsons said.

Depending on the size of their boat, Nelson’s tenants pay between $235 and $360 a month at Ventura Isle and at another of his Ventura County facilities, Anacapa Isle Marina in Oxnard. People who live on their boats pay an additional charge.

Nelson, who claims to be California’s largest marina operator, has already told the district that he plans to fix the docks this fall. But he said the repairs are not at issue. He claims that under his lease with the district, only Parsons can decide rent increases. But he contends the district commissioners effectively overruled Parsons following the April 24 hearing, which is not allowed under his lease.

The district was apparently unmoved, because Nelson sued the district in early May. The suit, filed in Superior Court in Ventura, asks the court to rule that “the commissioners under the terms of the contract have no right to tell the general manager how to exercise his discretion” on rent increases, said William H. Hair, Nelson’s lawyer.

Parsons countered that “the commission did not make the decision, I did.” He added that district officials plan to meet with Nelson this week to see if litigation can be avoided, but that for now, Nelson “has no authority to increase the rates without the port authority’s consent.”

Where does all of this leave Nelson’s boaters? Nelson told them to start paying the new rents regardless of the lawsuit.

“If the court finds we should give back any part of the increase, we will do that,” Nelson said. With interest? “We will do whatever the court tells us to do,” he said.

And despite some boaters’ complaints that helped prompt the commissioners to reject the rent increase, Nelson said the boaters he has talked with are willing to accept the higher rents until the issue is resolved.