from the Lake Group newsletter of January-February 2006

Many Lake Group members have undoubtedly read recent Record-Bee letters (December 6 and December 28), raising a number of questions about development issues within and adjacent to the city of Lakeport, including a proposed mega-subdivision with golf course, threats of eminent domain seizure looming over Natural High School, and costly alterations to the city's sewage treatment facilities. Environmental implications are numerous and profound. In brief, here's what seems to be going on: the Cristallago development (1200 units and golf resort complex northwest of the city) is now under environmental review. Considerations include political opposition, land use anomalies, asbestos-laden serpentine soils, and lack of water. It's obvious that approval will not come easily, and may not be granted at all.

So the same developers have turned their attention to city-owned parcels now used for sewage treatment but located outside Lakeport¹s city limits off the Hopland Grade. The Cristallago developers have been dickering with the city over the sale of this land, where they hope to construct another residential golf subdivision of possibly equally massive proportions. Most of the discussions have been conducted by a Council committee rather than in open session, with no environmental review so far; nonetheless, on November 7 the Boeger Development Group was granted an indefinitely renewable purchase option‹gratis. The option might be worth exactly that‹nothing‹since the necessary zoning changes and permits are under county rather than city jurisdiction, and the Community Development Department has major concerns about dense residential use on a site which is under the airport flight path, in close proximity to Granite Construction's recently approved gravel quarry, and outside the new General Plan's Urban Growth Boundaries. To circumvent this obstacle the city would have to annex the property, and thus put it under City Council jurisdiction.

In the meantime, the land in question is used for the city's wastewater treatment facilities, which are already stretched nearly to capacity, and were so overstressed during last April's heavy rains that over six million gallons of partially-treated wastewater entered Clear Lake. The most obvious solution would be to connect the city sewers to the county's Full Circle Project, but the city is instead considering constructing a high-tech tertiary-treatment plant and using that nearly-pure effluent to irrigate‹the proposed golf course! In that scenario winter overflows might have to be discharged into the lake, which is a ³solution² neither the State Water Control Board nor the Board of Supervisors seems likely to favor, if the negative reaction demonstrated when the subject was proposed last summer is any guide.

Simultaneously the same developers (Matt Boeger, Mark Mitchell, and Jim Burns) are negotiating to acquire Lakeport¹s downtown lakeshore Dutch Harbor property in order to build a luxury hotel. Despite Dutch Harbor's priceless value as a potential park, the city seems quite willing to trade it for a promised flood of Transient Occupancy Tax income, but by itself the parcel is too small for the intended use. To assemble a contiguous piece of an appropriate size, another adjacent parcel is needed‹a piece of land currently occupied by the Natural High campus. The school district seems reluctant to sell, so a proposal has been made for the redevelopment agency to seize title by eminent domain for "public" purposes, then to sell the property off for private development. Possible issues include Brown Act violations and circumvention of CEQA requirements, drastically increased sewage costs imposed on present ratepayers, public outrage at the use of eminent domain powers to seize school property for private benefit, and loss of public access to the lakeshore. Inappropriate land use patterns, interference with Lake County's only remaining airport, degradation of Clear Lake's water quality, and a host of other environmental issues are are also certain to come up. The economic viability of a subdivision built on a polluted and inherently noisy site also seems questionable, as does both the propriety and the peril of the city's intimate involvement with private development interests. For more information, including recent letters and the Record-Bee¹s astonishingly one-sided December 28 article, visit www.lakelive.org/lakeport