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Lakeport Police logs: Saturday, Jan. 10
Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026
00:00 EXTRA PATROL 2601100001
Occurred at Lake County Law Library on 3D....
Kelseyville skate and BMX park design effort begins; bikers, skateboarders weigh in on proposed elements
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A group of BMX and skateboard riders, along with several parents and local officials, sat down on Wednesday evening to begin the work of designing the new Kelseyville skate and BMX park.
More than 20 people – including a fairly even split of boarders and bikers – took part in the meeting, held at Guido's Pizzeria in Kelseyville and hosted by Jeff Rein, deputy director of Lake County Public Services, the county department which will oversee the park.
“Tonight, it starts,” Rein said of the park's design work.
Some of that basic work included having participants fill out questionnaires and look over the layouts of other parks designed by Upland-based California Skateparks, hired by the county to design the park facility.
The county has dedicated $300,000 to creating the park, which will be located next to the spot currently being used as a temporary BMX riding area at the three-acre Kelseyville County Park at 5270 State St., Rein said.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously last December to reallocate the funds that originally had been proposed for the development of a park in the Clear Lake Riviera to the skate and BMX park plan.
From that $300,000, Rein said the county has set aside a maximum of $45,000 to cover its contract with California Skateparks, one of the largest and most reputable skateboard and BMX park design firms.
Rein credited county Supervisor Rob Brown – who was not present for the meeting – for finding the funding for the park and making it a priority. “Tonight we start giving legs to Rob's vision.”
Much of the meeting was led by Jaxon Statzell, a designer with California Skateparks who also is a skateboarder.
“We want this park to feel like it's your park,” said Statzell.
“It's going to be 100-percent unique to Kelseyville. It really is in your hands,” Statzell added, encouraging the group to be honest – and to dream big – about the design elements they wanted to have included.
The Kelseyville skate and BMX park is set to be between 10,000 and 12,000 square feet, which Statzell called “pretty sizable,” especially considering that his company has done parks in New York City that are smaller and a park in Los Angeles that is the same size.
He said the Kelseyville park's proposed size allows enough space to cover all the bases when it comes to the variety of elements.
It's California Skateparks' responsibility, he added, to make sure the park will facilitate progression, and to come up with a design that's both welcoming to newcomers and stimulating for experienced riders.
Statzell also noted during the meeting that the $300,000 the county has set aside is “pretty much right where its should be” for the park's proposed size.
Design elements, lighting, terrain and fencing were among some of the topics that came up during the discussion.
Regarding fencing, Rein acknowledged pros and cons. “Our initial preference is that it be fenced but maybe there's reasons not to.”
Statzell said the design firm preferred no fencing. County Parks Superintendent Dana Smalley was concerned about safety it it wasn't fenced. Parent and park supporter Valarie Sullivan said she would like to see a perimeter bike and skateboard path rather than a fence.
Rein said the county wants the park to be designed and built in such a way that it could be expanded in the future.
“That would be awesome,” said one of the teens in the group.
Some of the features on the wish list include a curved wall and a half-pipe, according to comments made by the meeting participants.
“I want people to come from other places to ride our park,” said Zach Holt, one of the teens credited for his efforts to find another place to ride after local BMX riders were told they could no longer use a private property that they had used for many years.
Helping with the design effort were two young local men – Daniel Smith and RJ Hudson – who brought detailed sketches of their concepts of what the park should look like. Statzell took photos of the plans.
Statzell said he got a lot of awesome ideas, and the sketches will help with the design work.
Rein said the park's development schedule includes three months for design and three months to build. The county will be acting as its own general contractor but will be putting out requests for subcontractors.
Sullivan, who has been supporting the riders in their search for a permanent place, said of the park plan, “It's quite a vision.”
Sullivan invited anyone interested in the park to join the Kelseyville BMX Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/268740103187339/ , where updates on the park effort are posted regularly.
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Council asked to pursue senior mobile home park rent control; RV dump station to remain open
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The man who led the effort to place a senior mobile home park rent control initiative on the Lakeport and county ballots asked the Lakeport City Council on Tuesday night to consider instituting such a rent control law in the city to protect seniors.
During the meeting's citizen input period, Lakeport resident Nelson Strasser made the request to the council, which could not take formal action on his request because it had not been agendized.
Strasser and the Save Our Seniors Committee gathered signatures last year and qualified to place senior mobile home rent control initiatives on the county's ballot this June and on the city's ballot this November, as Lake County News reports.
However, a coalition of park owners sued the city and the county over the initiatives.
At a March 14 hearing, Judge Richard Martin ruled the initiatives had to be removed from the ballots because they were unconstitutional, had no administrative mechanism for a rent control board and that the flaws with the initiatives were significant enough that he couldn't fix them in order to have them go before voters, as Lake County News has reported.
Strasser told the council that similar laws are working all over California. He said he spoke with officials from Santa Rosa and Ukiah, where such laws are in place.
In the case of Santa Rosa's law, a copy of which he sent to interim City Attorney David Ruderman for consideration, Strasser concluded, “Tenants and owners are living very happily with that law.”
Strasser said the marketplace isn't working when it comes to protecting mobile home park tenants. “We mobile home tenants are captive.”
During his comments, Strasser said he wasn't interested in attempting the initiative process again, but wanted to propose a law in Lakeport like Santa Rosa's.
“I'm not revisiting the initiative process at this point,” he said, adding, “If I have to, I will.”
He asked how to get the council's consideration. Mayor Kenny Parlet said the process would need to start with city staff.
Ruderman explained that there is an ordinance process which would include staff review, council direction to pursue it and two readings by the council. He said the council could direct staff to meet with Strasser to discuss the proposal.
Strasser asked the council if they would be willing to do that. Parlet said they could direct staff to meet with him but couldn't take action at the meeting.
The council also received a letter from the owners of Fairgrounds Village Mobile Home Park – McKay and LaRee Florence, Ralph and Barbara Beatty, and Jack and Lou Lefevre – read by the park manager during the meeting.
The letter explained that on April 10 the owners met with park tenants to get input on a proposed lease for existing residents.
“The objective of the lease would be to ensure affordability for existing residents, provide stability in the community while ensuring a fair rate of return for the property owner,” the letter explained.
The form of that proposed lease is “substantially similar” to one endorsed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors in September 2008, the letter said.
It includes a 10-year lease term, annual rent increases limited to the consumer price index or 3 percent – whichever is more – and in any event cannot exceed 8 percent. The lease is fully transferable upon sale of a park resident's home with a one time increase to the highest rent in the park at the time of sale.
The park's current residents pay between $312 and $330 a month for space rent, which the letter said is significantly below fair market value for quality senior mobile home parks in the Lakeport area. Tenants also are offered affordable rent credit of up to $25 per month for tenants whose rent is more than 30 percent of their monthly income.
Park residents seemed supportive of the proposal, with a larger meeting of residents planned, the letter explained.
Strasser, who lives at Fairgrounds Village, was at the park meeting and there he announced his plans to ask the city council for a rent control ordinance. The park owners said they asked Strasser to hold off while they negotiated a lease, as they believed that could derail the lease effort.
The letter ended by asserting that Lakeport does not need rent control, rents are affordable and increases historically have been reasonable, with the park owners doing their part to provide Lakeport's seniors with affordable housing.
“Mr. Strasser is acting prematurely and in bad faith,” the letter said, adding, “We urge you in the strongest possible terms not to give consideration to rent control in the City of Lakeport.”
Richard Forbes, who lives in the Sterling Shore Mobile Home Park in north Lakeport, said the proposal from Fairgrounds Village could put seniors in the poor house.
Seniors, he reminded the council, are retired and on fixed incomes. “This is a very reasonable thing that we're asking,” he said, encouraging Parlet to have the matter agendized.
Parlet said he was directing staff to speak with Strasser.
Council woman Stacey Mattina reported later in the meeting that she also had been in attendance at the April l0 meeting, noting that the park came up with “a lot of solutions for the tenants,” including a program to help widows and widowers.
Council directs signage at RV dump station
In other news on Tuesday, the council directed staff to improve signage at the RV dump station located near the Fifth Street boat ramp in Library Park to help address the issue of people taking water from a hose located at the station.
In his written report to the council, Public Works Director Mark Brannigan said that the Lakeport Police Department recently approached an individual at the station who was filling a large tank – estimated to be about 350 gallons in size – on the back of his truck with city water.
“The individual informed the police officer that he routinely fills his tank there because the well at his house runs dry, and he can’t afford to pay for water delivery each week,” Brannigan reported.
He said the city receives a few reports a year of inappropriate activity, such as businesses using the dump station. City ordinance does not allow water to be taken from its system for domestic, commercial or industrial use unless the customer is equipped with a meter, according to Brannigan's report.
Brannigan said the water provided at the park's RV dump station is for rinsing down the area, adding that the water is not potable.
Due to the repeated cases of businesses disposing their wastewater at this facility and people filling up water tanks for off-site use, city staff was proposing either to close the facility, restrict the hours of operation or add appropriate signage, he said.
City resident George Spurr urged the city not to restrict the times due to people with RVs who may need the station on weekends or nights.
“Business hours is not going to do it for recreation,” he said, adding he believed putting up more signage was a better solution.
The council agreed. Councilman Martin Scheel suggested also putting up video surveillance. He was concerned that if the dump station wasn't available, sewage would be dumped elsewhere illegally.
One of the suggestions in Brannigan's report was that the new signage include the warning that taking water from the station was a misdemeanor.
Parlet said he wanted the signs to have a good tone and not to be negative.
The council gave Brannigan direction to move forward with the new signage.
Also on Tuesday night, the council approved creating a new parks maintenance leadworker position, and redesignating and participating in the Sonoma/Mendocino/Lake Recycling Market Development Zone. City Engineer Scott Harter said the recycling market development zone redesignation has to take place about once a decade.
Parlet announced at the start of the meeting that the closed session to discuss labor negotiations had been canceled. Councilman Tom Engstrom was absent from the meeting.
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Supervisors to consider Visitor Information Center closure, Harbor House Espresso issues
LAKEPORT, Calif. – This week the Board of Supervisors will consider whether to close the Visitor Information Center and discuss recent actions taken against a Lakeport business related to water supply.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 15, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport. TV8 will broadcast the meeting live.
At 9:15 a.m., the board will consider the recommendation to permanently close the Visitor Information Center in Lucerne and implement alternatives to provide visitor information services.
During a March workshop, tourism consultant John Poimiroo advised the county to immediately close the center, which employs several people and costs $174,681 annually to run – or about 46.5 percent of the county's total marketing budget, according to a report from the County Administrative Office.
Poimiroo recommended that the county reallocate the funds to other forms of marketing “which will have a greater impact on branding and attracting out-of-county visitors to Lake County, such as creating a bolder online presence,” the report said.
Services currently offered through the Visitor Information Center would instead shift in part to electronic kiosks, with the Lake County Chamber of Commerce – which has a $50,000 annual contract with the county for marketing services – proposed to pick up handling the phone calls and email inquiries the center currently is handling, according to the report.
At 10:40 a.m., the board will discuss Lake County Environmental Health's recent actions against Harbor House Espresso, which Environmental Health Director Ray Ruminski told Lake County News has operated for many years without a water hookup.
Despite giving the business numerous notices to have a connected water supply, rather than just using bottled water, it has continued to operate with out the required changes. Ruminski said the state also is taking action against the business due to water-related issues.
Relating to Harbor House, the board will consider options to ensure compliance with appropriate Health and Safety codes in the future operations of Harbor House Espresso.
The full agenda follows. The agenda is out of order due to an addendum.
TIMED ITEMS
9 a.m., A-1 to A-4: Approval of consent agenda, which includes items that are expected to be routine and noncontroversial, and will be acted upon by the board at one time without discussion; presentation of animals available for adoption at Lake County Animal Care and Control; consideration of items not appearing on the posted agenda, and contract change orders for current construction projects.
9:05 a.m.: Citizen's input. Any person may speak for three minutes about any subject of concern, provided that it is within the jurisdiction of the Board of Supervisors and is not already on the agenda. Prior to this time, speakers must fill out a slip giving name, address and subject (available in the clerk of the board’s office, first floor, courthouse).
9:06 a.m., A-5: Presentation of proclamation designating the week of April 13-19, 2014, as National Public Safety Telecommunications Week in Lake County.
9:10 a.m., A-6: Public hearing, consideration of proposed ordinance amending Article II of Chapter 18 of the Lake County Code relating to the Transient Occupancy Tax.
9:15 a.m., A-7: Consideration of recommendation to permanently close the Visitor Information Center in Lucerne and implement alternatives to provide visitor information services.
9:30 a.m., A-8: Public hearing, consideration of intention to name a certain existing unnamed road in the County of Lake (Poppy Lane).
9:45 a.m., A-9: Presentation of Kindergarten Entry Developmental Profile for Lake County.
10 a.m., A-10: Consideration of System Capacity Fee Evaluations and proposed adjustments for CSA #21 - Water System and LACOSAN-Northwest Regional Wastewater System.
10:30 a.m., A-11: Nuisance abatement hearing for 875 Round Mountain Road, Clearlake Oaks, CA (APN 006-560-20 - Cindy Laudero).
10:40 a.m., A-14: (a) Discussion regarding recent county actions taken against Harbor House Espresso; and (b) Consideration of options to ensure compliance with appropriate Health and Safety codes in the future operations of Harbor House Espresso.
NONTIMED ITEMS
A-13: Supervisors’ weekly calendar, travel and reports
Supervisor to discuss Visitor Information Center closure, Harbor House Espresso issues
A-14 (agenda also shows this item as numbered identically to item above): 1.Conference with Labor Negotiator: (a) County Negotiators: A. Grant, L. Guintivano, S. Harry, M. Perry, A. Flora and C. Shaver; and (b) employee organizations, Deputy District Attorney's Association, Lake County Deputy Sheriff's Association, Lake County Correctional Officers Association and Lake County Safety Employees Association.
CONSENT AGENDA
C-1: Approve minutes of the Board of Supervisors meeting held on April 8, 2014.
C-2: Adopt proclamation designating the week of April 13-19, 2014, as National Public Safety Telecommunications Week in Lake County.
C-3: Adopt resolution amending Resolution No. 2013-96 establishing position allocations for Fiscal Year 2013-2014, Budget Unit No. 1781, Special Projects (remove the double asterisk (**) pertaining to the Deputy County Administrative Officer-Special Projects I/II/III allocation).
C-4: Approve letter supporting SB 1410 (Wolk and Nielsen) requesting appropriation of funds to fulfill outstanding Department of Fish and Wildlife PILT obligations and begin making on-going PILT payments, and authorize the chair to sign
C-5: Approve memorandum of understanding between the county of Lake and St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake to authorize psychiatrists available via telepsychiatry to conduct 5150 assessments and make recommendations for placement to designated facilities.
C-6: Approve second amendment to agreement between the county of Lake and California Psychiatric Transitions for FY 2013-14 mental health rehabilitation center support and specialty mental health
services, increase of $104,820, and authorize the chair to sign.
C-7: Approve second amendment to agreement between the county of Lake and Redwood Creek Community Living Center for FY 2013-14 adult residential support services, a decrease of $7,000, and authorize the chair to sign.
C-8: Approve first amendment to agreement between the county of Lake and Community Health Care HIV/AIDS Program for FY 2013-14 HIV/AIDS counseling and case management services, an increase of $405.64, and authorize the chair to sign.
C-9: Approve agreement between the county of Lake and Dixon Backhoe Service and General Engineering for Abatement of Nuisance Conditions in the amount of $15,000 and authorize the chair to sign.
C-10: Approve purchase of the 3-D laser scanning system and the maintenance and update service, total amount of scanning system $66,000, and maintenance service and updates rate of $4,526.33 and
$699.50 per year, and authorize the district attorney/assistant purchasing agent to issue a purchase order.
C-11: Approve Library Use Policy.
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Lakeport City Council to discuss RV dump station, recycling zone
LAKEPORT, Calif. – This week the Lakeport City Council will discuss whether to close an RV dump station and give staff direction regarding participation in a recycling market development zone.
The council will meet for a closed session beginning at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St., to discuss labor negotiations before convening in open session at 6 p.m.
Under council business, Public Works Director Mark Brannigan will ask the council to approve the creation of the parks maintenance leadworker and job description.
He'll also seek authorization from staff to either close the RV dump station located in Library Park or to add signage to the RV dump station that identifies the legal use of the facility, and modify the water and sewer services to only be available during normal business hours.
City Engineer Scott Harter will seek direction from the council regarding the redesignation and participation in the Sonoma/Mendocino/Lake Recycling Market Development Zone.
On the meeting's consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances; minutes of the regular April 1 meeting; the April 3 warrant register; approval of Application No. 2014-006 with staff comments for the Lakeport Main Street Association for the Children’s Push and Pull Pet Parade on April 19, annual Cleanup Lakeport on April 26, July 4 Arts and Crafts Fair, Taste of Lakeport on August 23, Shipwreck Days on October 18, Trick or Treat Main Street on Oct. 31 and Very Merry Main Street on Nov. 29; and approval of Application No. 2014-007 with staff comments for The Center for Life Choices for a Walk for Life and 5K run on April 26, 2014.
Email Elizabeth Larson at