Homer signs off on a change of ownership at a Homer Spit seafood plant, after the fact

The Homer City Council approved transferring the ground lease at a Homer Spit seafood plant on Monday, after the change in ownership had already happened. The council's resolution retroactively signs off on Silver Bay Seafoods' acquisition of Icicle's stake in OBI Seafoods, and hands the plant's lease to Silver Bay.

The lease runs through 2036, with options for two more five-year extensions, at an initial base rent of about $69,900 a year on the nearly three-acre site. City code requires the council to approve by resolution whenever a lessee's ownership changes by more than 25 percent — the same provision staff applied in 2020, when Icicle merged its wild salmon business with Ocean Beauty Seafoods to form OBI in the first place. It's the second time this lease has changed corporate hands in six years.

The city's resolution and staff memo describe the deal from the city's side only; nothing from OBI, Silver Bay or Icicle laying out their reasoning appears in the packet. The lone public comment was a letter of support from the North Pacific Fisheries Association. Separately, the council has been weighing proposed edits to the city code section governing these leases and to its base lease template.