By Samuel Strait – Reporter at Large – May 20, 2022

It appears that things are not going exactly according to plan with Alex
Lemus’s assurances that each tenant would have a tailor made plan for
relocation prior to work commencing on Redwood Harbor Village.  His
latest plan calls for some tenants, those in lucky spaces 1-31,will be
shuffled into the overflow park spaces like unwanted puppies.  Those who
have RV’s that are unable to be moved will have suitable alternatives to
move into, whatever that means.  Others are on pace to be evicted for a
variety of reasons by the harbor.  The remainder will be moved piece
meal as renovation is intended to commence inspite of Lemus’s promises
to have each individual tenant relocated prior to the start of the project.

Anyone with a modicum of common sense would have known that trying to
relocate eighty odd residents was going to take more than a few weeks of
time, particularly when the tenants will come with a variety of
expectations.  For Lemus to begin work prior to addressing that thorny
issue does not bode well for the tenants nor the success of the over all
project.  We are currently on the cusp of the beginning of tourist
season which will extend through August and perhaps into September.  
This is where Lemus’s company must receive a bulk of his yearly income
in order to honor his lease arrangement with the harbor and begin his
payments.

Since Redwood Harbor Village will be unlikely ready to receive short
term visitors until well into the season, chances are that the Harbor
may not come off quite as well as expected.  The fact that Lemus is
pushing to “get started” may mean that money is a problem going forward
in the early stages of what would be a lengthy project.  Explanations,
that relocation of all the tenants may be years off should make Harbor
Commissioners uneasy with allowing Lemus to proceed without the clear
assurance that each tenant’s needs had been addressed, otherwise he
should be made to delay construction until all of those needs have been
addressed.

A curious commissioner on the Harbor Board should insist that the
investment for the project actually exists and does not rely on the
completion of portions of the overall project to begin generating income
before the tenant issues are resolved to their satisfaction.  Moving
laterally into the very basic services of the over flow RV parking area
may not constitute “being satisfactorily relocated”.   Lemus has spent
time investigating other possibilities for relocation and made clear to
the Commission that other than moving “some” of the tenants side ways,
he has no short term solution for what should be completed prior to his
current attempt to side step his commitment of satisfactorily relocating
Redwood Harbor Village’s entire current population.  Not a good start.

Harbor Commissioners, with particular emphasis on Commissioners Brian
Stone and Wes White, have a stated obligation to closely monitor the
proposed activities of Renewable Energy and Lemus prior to work
commencing without eighty tailor made plans approved by every current
tenant.  They do not appear to be honoring that obligation.  Lemus and
Renewable Energy do not appear to be honoring their obligations.  Does
anything about Lemus’s involvement with solar panels and electrical
generation reach the level of consciousness of anyone on the Harbor
Commission? Doesn’t look like it.