Fences Installed at Pete’s Harbor; Residents Cry Foul

Pete’s Harbor Properties installed fences that restrict access to the marina in Redwood City, California on Thursday, although it is legally unclear if they are allowed to do so.

The people who live in the houseboats there are outraged, claiming their rights under unlawful detainer laws are being violated.  

Buckley Stone has lived in a houseboat at the harbor for the past 20 years with his wife Wendy.  In 2012, they were given eviction notices, along with other houseboat residents who used the boat slips at Pete’s Harbor and the business owners who had operated on the land for years. They were told they had to vacate the property by January 15, 2013.

Many complied. However, the Stone family refused, citing a complex situation, according to Wendy Stone.

“My husband moved to Pete's Harbor 20 years ago in order to live affordably on his sailboat and to be close to the VA Hospital, as he is 100% disabled with a severely compromised immune system,” she said.  “As of today, we don't have a substitute living situation for his particular physical and financial needs,” Stone told Patch.

The Stone family is one of a handful of houseboat residents who the courts granted the ability to stay in the boat slips, while the legality of the situation is assessed. They are allowed to live there through July 10, 2013, said Buckley Stone, who is irate about the new fence installation.

“By closing the harbor she’s basically repudiating the lease,” he told Patch, highlighting the fact that the lease was written by the late Peter Uccelli, the land’s original owner.

“Because of what happened with his first wife, he made sure that she [Paula] was not on the lease,” he said. 

The way Stone can access his boat changed on June 13, when Pete’s Harbor Properties notified residents that security fencing and gates were going to be installed.

“As a result of recent trespassing incidents, vandalism and thefts, the police department recommended that Pete’s Harbor contract for improved security,” the letter reads. Later that evening the fences arrived, along with a team of security guards. The guards are now controlling access to the area.

“The people who are legally overstaying their lease are being provided full access to the property,” said Adam Alberti, Pete’s Harbor Properties spokesperson.

The guards are checking IDs to monitor who comes and goes, verifying who is able to be on the property with a list of names. All of the people legally living in the boat slips are on the list.
 
“It is a contract security firm. They don’t know everybody there,” Alberti said, noting that the company is taking reasonable precautions to preserve public safety.

In the past 30 days, Redwood City Police were called six times to the property for grand theft, petty theft, and vandalism. Police declined to elaborate on what transpired during those calls. According to police records, law enforcement officials answered 289 calls for service on the property between January 1, 2013 and June 14, 2013.

Alison Madden, houseboat resident, said that when she asked about the reasons the fences were installed, she was refused clarification.  Additionally, she said the guards are not exercising good judgment or sensitivity when determining who should be allowed to be on the land. Casual cyclists and explorers are being swarmed, she said. 

“A guy came out here with a kayak and they surrounded him,” Madden said, noting that the man had been entering the bay from this point for more than a decade. She said the man complied without causing a commotion. 

“As he was putting his kayak back onto his Jeep, a guy named Manuel folded his arms and mocked him and laughed at him until he left,” Madden said.

Alberti said the fences and the guards are there to make sure the harbor is safe.

 “They want to privatize a public shoreline…Check Point Charlie has been implemented at Pete’s,” he said. 

The legality of the situation is murky. Ostensibly the person who owns the boat slips decides who lives there.

The California State Lands Commission manages the water and owns the outer marina, according to Blake Lyon, planning manager for the City of Redwood City. The Uccelli family owns the land.

Sheri Pemberton, legislative liaison for the California State Lands Commission, said the boat slips are legally considered an improvement to the land that was described in the lease.

“The lease terms state that the lessee owns any improvements and has the right to improve and retain those,” Pemberton said Friday.

Complicating the matter is the fact that that the land’s ownership is in limbo, according to Lyon.

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.   

The Pauls Corporation has the option to purchase the land and must commit to doing so by a certain date. That date is a fact contained by the Uccelli family and Paul Powers, who did not return phone calls to elucidate the matter by the time of this article’s publication.

Whether or not Pete’s Harbor Properties can legally restrict access to the water is unclear, according to Pemberton. 

“That would require, as it relates to that specific area, more legal analysis from us because of some complexities with that area,” she said Friday afternoon. “We are in the process of doing that analysis at this time.”