Pete’s Harbor owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in back rent to the California State Lands Commission, which it has asked to transfer its lease so the marina property can be sold for development.

Word that harbor owner Paula Uccelli and her late husband Pete Uccelli had not paid rent to the state agency for 28 years emerged during the commission’s Dec. 5 meeting. It prompted opponents of the harbor’s proposed development to accuse the Uccellis of essentially squatting on public lands while making money off tenants who are to be evicted next month in preparation for construction.

Paula Uccelli wants to develop the 10.7-acre harbor site into 15 buildings with 411 apartment units and convert 263 boat slips in the outer and inner marinas from commercial to private use for new residents only.

The Redwood City Planning Commission approved the development in October — a decision opponents are appealing to the city council — and Uccelli has asked the State Lands Commission to transfer her lease agreement for the outer-harbor portion to developer The Pauls Corp.

Although the transfer request wasn’t on last Wednesday’s agenda, representatives of Pete’s Harbor tenants went to Sacramento to make a pre-emptive plea to the commission during public comment period to reject the transfer.

Uccelli’s lawyer, Ted Hannig, also addressed the commission and brought up the matter of unpaid rent “to address it head-on.”

Hannig said that after Pete Uccelli signed leases in 1984 with the commission for two parcels within the marina, he did not pay the required rent because he didn’t know where to send the check. Uccelli made several attempts and even enlisted the help of two state legislators in an effort to find out where to send his money but couldn’t get an answer, Hannig said, so he finally gave up.

“Since that time, Mr. Uccelli opened up an account and started to deposit the rent checks, waiting for the state to come get them,” Hannig said. “The state never made any contact with him.”

In September, when Paula Uccelli met with the State Lands Commission staff to discuss the transfer, she brought her checkbook, ready to “settle up that account,” Hannig said. She was told someone would get back to her with the amount due. No one did, and Hannig said that’s why he got involved.

“I sent out $20,000-plus in a cashier’s check to the State Lands Commission saying, ‘Here’s the last four years of rent,’ because it’s my understanding from our legal analysis that’s the maximum amount the state would be allowed to be charged,” Hannig said. “It might even be less.”

Or more.

State Lands Commission Executive Officer Jennifer Lucchesi told the three-member board that the amount due, with penalties and interest, comes out to approximately $406,000. She said a demand letter was sent to Paula Uccelli on Nov. 9; Hannig confirmed that the letter had been received.

Commissioner Alan Gordon asked Hannig if the housing could be built without privatizing the marina. “Why it is necessary in building the development to remove these slips from the public?” Gordon asked.

Hannig replied that because of the city’s parking requirements, there wouldn’t be enough slots for both housing residents and boaters without sacrificing some of the proposed homes.

A handful of Pete’s Harbor residents and their supporters spoke at the meeting, including Alison Madden, a lawyer and RV resident who filed the appeal, which is scheduled to be heard by the city council on Jan. 28.

Madden said the “Save Pete’s Harbor” group doesn’t oppose some residential development on the property but wants to keep the marina available for tenants, including the “liveaboards” who call the Redwood City spot home.

“(There’s) a Vietnam veteran that’s lived there for 20 years and has paid $250,000 in rent,” she told commissioners. “He could find where to pay his rent.”