Pete’s Harbor Properties Declares It Will Terminate Lease With State

Pete’s Harbor Properties declared on Monday it intends to terminate its lease with the California State Lands Commission in the next 60 days, ending a conflict over the outer marina waterways in Redwood City that has plagued Paula Uccelli for years.  

“It is with tremendous sadness that we have been forced into the position of terminating the Uccelli leases to the Outer Harbor that my late husband established and lovingly built a marina around,” Uccelli said.  “At this junction, the State Lands Commission has made it literally impossible to maintain the Outer Harbor and has in all likelihood needlessly ruined any prospect of a future public marina at Pete’s Habor,” she said.

Uccelli, widow of the man who founded Pete’s Harbor, is in the process of negotiating a transfer of the land to a developer. The Pauls Corporation has publicly declared a desire to develop the land into a commercial marina and filed paperwork with the city to do so. However, the details of the development are still being explored, according to Blake Lyon, planning manager for the City of Redwood City. Protests have complicated that. 

Now that the lease for that section of real estate will cease to exist, “The Pauls Corporation has to revise their project description,” Lyons told Patch.

The legal negotiations for the land began in the 80s, when Peter Uccelli wanted property managed by the State Lands Commission. The Legislature approved a measure in 1984 that deeded the property to Pete Uccelli with the exception of the outer marina, according to Adam Alberti, Pete’s Harbor Properties Spokesperson.  

The State Lands Commission retained the rights to manage the water. In 2005 Peter Uccelli died of a heart attack, bringing tragedy to the family and an uncertainty about who would be responsible for the land and the docks that extended from it.

In 2012, The State Lands Commission sent a letter to Pete's Harbor Propertes that said rent for the land, which amounted to $406,253.24 including penalties, had not been paid.  Redwood City residents accused Paula Uccelli of squatting on the land and illegally charging people who lived in the boat slips rent money. When she decided to sell the land to a developer, the people living in the boat slips protested, engaging her in a legal battle that is still in progress.

The Pete’s Harbor Properties team said those claims are false, arguing that Mr. Uuccelli’s assets were legally given to Paula in probate court and calling the State Lands Commission an “absentee landlord.”

“The Uccelli’s have been fighting the state for three decades to maintain an outer marina for the community’s benefit but the state has gone too far this time,” said Attorney Ted Hannig. “My client, a 70-year old widow, has chosen not to suffer any more mental or physical abuse…This has been an extremely difficult decision and it is with heavy hearts that the community will be forced to say goodbye to the possibility of Pete’s Harbor continuing operations on the site.

Sheri Pemberton, legislative liaison for the California State Lands Commission said, “There hasn’t been any harassment or abuse [by the State Lands Commission] as alleged by Mrs. Uccelli’s attorney.”

“Our legal staff has been actively working on this with Mrs. Uccelli’s attorney for quite some time,” she told Patch Monday.  She could not comment on whether this piece of property was legally transferred from the late Mr. Uccelli to Mrs. Uccelli by the time of this article’s publication. She needed to dive into the leases. 

In the new plans, the Pauls Corporation may be forced to provide public access to the public waterway, depending on the outcome of an analysis that is in progress.

Stay tuned.