RENT HIKE MAY FORCE EXTINCTION OF MARINE INSTITUTE.Byline: David Greenberg The creator of this article, or someone who has substantially contributed to it, may have a conflict of interest regarding its subject matter. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Staff Writer PORT HUENEME Port Hueneme (wī'nē`mē), city (1990 pop. 20,319), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast; founded 1870, inc. 1948. It has an artificial deep-sea harbor and is the site of a huge naval construction-battalion (Seabee) center. - A nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. institute offering tours, classes and work programs at its seaside fish-spawning operation faces extinction if the city goes through with a rent hike of more than 300 percent, officials said Monday. The Channel Islands Marine Resource Institute, which survives on donations and small stipends from Ventura County and Oxnard College Oxnard College is a California-state funded community college located in Oxnard, California. It was established in 1975. It serves the Oxnard Plain cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, and Port Hueneme. , cannot afford the increase from $320 to $1,100 a month the city is demanding. ``We're going to be plowed under,'' said Carl Hilton, the institute's volunteer facilities manager. ``I'm angry at the price increase. It's a shame these children are going to be losing this facility because of that.'' A new lease was scheduled to be signed by Oct. 4, but the Port Hueneme City Council gave the institute an extension of at least a month when it took the item off its October meeting agenda two weeks ago. The lease on the building became available in May 1996, when the 35-acre Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory was closed during the third round of base closures by the Department of Defense. Ownership was transferred to the Oxnard Harbor District, which agreed to lease five acres to the city for the Hueneme Aquacultural Business Park for $1 a year. The city has since completed $966,000 in infrastructure improvements and spent an additional $190,000 to install a pipeline from which to draw seawater seawater Water that makes up the oceans and seas. Seawater is a complex mixture of 96.5% water, 2.5% salts, and small amounts of other substances. Much of the world's magnesium is recovered from seawater, as are large quantities of bromine. . For that reason, city officials say, tenants were warned three years ago that rents would ultimately increase to what amounts to 8 cents a square foot in the first year of the lease to 10 cents by the fifth year. ``And that's still heavily discounted,'' said Greg Brown Greg Brown may refer to:
The Harbor District charges 16 cents a square foot for vacant land and open storage space and 50 cents a square foot for developed space on land outside the aquacultural park, he added. But institute officials maintain they should be given a break in their rent because of the work done there. The center's spawning operations have replenished the ocean with thousands of white and calico bass calico bass n. See black crappie. [From the colored spots on its body.] , and there are plans in the works to begin spawning the nearly extinct white abalone The white abalone, Haliotis sorenseni, is a species of abalone. The shell fish has a high poison pH but sometimes confused as the only type of abalone due to the spread of western culture and because it is the most widely consumed. , a kind of sea snail snail, name commonly used for a gastropod mollusk with a shell. Included in the thousands of species are terrestrial, freshwater, and marine forms. Some eat both plant and animal matter; others eat only one type of food. . They said they will bring their case to the City Council, in hopes of showing that Port Hueneme and the county will enjoy long-range benefits with the institute open. ``One of the things that makes us unique is that we are not only providing education about the marine environment, but we're actually taking steps to enhance it,'' said Tom McCormick, a board member. ``We've put thousands of white sea bass into the ocean for anybody to catch. They are one of the best eating fish in California. ``Think of what you could do for the local economy if you had much more fish for people to catch.'' With the operation run by three full- and 60 part-time volunteers, operational expenses have been $40,000 to $60,000 annually, records show. But costs are expected to significantly increase in the next year with program expansions and electricity costs from the seawater system increasing from $500 to $1,500 a month, said board member Evans Hughes. |
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