PORT HUENEME : Residents Can Lease Site to Block Resort
Beach-area homeowners who want to block a proposed oceanfront motor-home resort in Port Hueneme will have an opportunity to lease the 10-acre site for $400,000 a year to preserve it as open space.
The Port Hueneme City Council authorized the city manager Wednesday night to offer the homeowners a minimum 20-year lease that would net the city the same annual income as the proposed recreational vehicle resort. The plan for the resort goes before the council and Planning Commission for approval next month.
The lease also would eliminate the need for the city’s so-called view tax. The $66 to $184 annual assessments, based on view and ocean access, are being challenged in court by area homeowners.
City Manager Richard Velthoen said he would notify the homeowner associations of the offer, but was skeptical about the likelihood of the 1,240 beach-area property owners supporting the estimated $350-a-year individual lease payments.
“I have my personal doubts whether the negotiations. . .would be successful,” Velthoen said. To be accepted, the lease must be approved by eight homeowner associations.
Councilman Dorril B. Wright supported leasing out the property, although he noted that the compromise would not generate the business activity of the 143-space recreational vehicle resort.
“I’m still concerned that the lease does not provide the economic spinoff for the community,” Wright said.
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