Homer council to vote Monday on transferring Spit seafood lease to Silver Bay

Control of a seafood processing site on the Homer Spit would pass to Silver Bay Seafoods-Valdez, LLC under a resolution the Homer City Council takes up Monday. The ground lease would stay in place through Dec. 31, 2036, at an initial annual base rent of about $69,877.

The measure covers Lots 41 and 42, Homer Spit Amended, and assigns the lease from OBI Seafoods, LLC. It also approves, retroactively, an earlier related change of control of OBI Seafoods. The lease carries options for two consecutive five-year extensions, which would carry the tenancy toward 2046. The item sits on the council's consent agenda with a staff recommendation for adoption. That means it would be enacted with other consent items in a single motion unless a council member pulls it for separate discussion.

The lot has changed hands before. City records show the 20-year ground lease began Jan. 1, 2017. City administration prepared a memorandum in 2020 recommending assignment of the same lease from Icicle Seafoods, Inc. to OBI Seafoods.

The assignment follows a corporate change already underway. Silver Bay Seafoods said in a press release announcing a partnership with Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation that it "will be acquiring the interest in OBI Seafoods formerly owned by Icicle Seafoods and managing all OBI facilities and operations." Silver Bay's chief executive told the trade outlet Undercurrent News in June 2025 that integration is focused on minimizing disruption for fishermen, employees and communities while aligning OBI's network with Silver Bay's operational model. The chief executive said the OBI name will be retired at its plants.

That consolidation has drawn skepticism from some Alaska fishermen and plant workers. They have argued in an online industry discussion group that folding OBI plants into a single corporate model could override locally negotiated practices on wages and scheduling.

The agenda notes public comment received on the resolution but does not state what the comment said, and it contains no response from either company. The council takes public comment on agenda items at the start of the meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. Monday in the Cowles Council Chambers. Residents who want the assignment discussed in the open still have that window before the consent vote.