The owners of the Casa Sirena Hotel and Lobster Trap Restaurant at Channel Islands Harbor will proceed with their plans to demolish the buildings and replace them with a new hotel complex, after they got a preliminary go-ahead from the Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

The board voted unanimously to hire a consultant to do a full environmental review of the proposal by the developer, Greystar Real Estate Partners. Greystar will pay for the report, which will be used by the Board of Supervisors when it decides whether to approve the project.

The county owns the harbor and leases most of the land to businesses like Greystar, and the board has asked for redevelopment proposals from all of its biggest tenants.

"It's time to move ahead," Supervisor Kathy Long said. "This is a wonderful site, and we need to make it a treasure for all of the county of Ventura and certainly for Channel Islands Harbor."

Greystar's plans call for replacing the low-slung Casa Sirena with a hotel that is up to six stories tall, but with a much smaller footprint. That would leave more space for ocean views, a public park and a public promenade along the waterfront, Wes Whitman, a principal with Greystar, told the board.

The new hotel would be affiliated with a national brand such as Hilton or Marriott. It would have 225 to 250 rooms, up from the Casa Sirena's 176. The project would also include restaurants, meeting halls, spaces for small shops and a separate wing with 125 condos.

The current hotel and restaurant are in disrepair and are typically close to empty. Last year, Greystar rebuilt the annex to the Casa Sirena and opened it as the Hampton Inn, and that hotel has been very successful, Harbor Director Lyn Krieger said.

The harbor-area residents and businesspeople who came to Tuesday's board meeting were unanimous in their support for the project.

Greystar also held nine meetings with homeowners associations, business groups and other organizations, and Whitman said their members were generally supportive.

"This project is in our backyard, and we're not opposed to it — we embrace it," said Gary Erickson, president of the homeowners association of the nearest condominium complex.

"We remember when the Lobster Trap and the Casa Sirena were the place to be, and we've seen that decline, and that decline has impacted all of the businesses in the area," Erickson said.

The Lobster Trap and the Casa Sirena were built by legendary Oxnard developer Martin "Bud" Smith, and during the 1970s and 1980s they were among the harbor's most popular attractions.

"There's no question that is the premier point in the harbor," Supervisor Peter Foy said. "What we do there is critical. It kind of sets the tone for what goes on in the harbor."

The other major harbor redevelopment, at Fisherman's Wharf, is just slightly farther along in the process than Greystar's project.

The Fisherman's Wharf developers got approval to start an environmental impact report in May.

Both projects are subject to approval by the Board of Supervisors and the California Coastal Commission. The developers and county officials don't expect final approval for either project until at least 2010.