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CLEARLAKE – Clearlake's City Council has a full slate of issues tonight, which run the gamut from medical marijuana to city development agreements.
One of the first items listed under “Business” on the council's lengthy agenda includes a public hearing regarding the consideration of adopting an interim urgency ordinance to extend a temporary moratorium on medical marijuana.
City Administrator Dale Neiman said the ordinance went into effect last year. This urgency ordinance, drafted by the city attorney, would extend the temporary moratorium for one more year.
The reason for taking that action, said Neiman, is because of lawsuits under way around the state involving medical marijuana and its regulation by cities.
“We want to wait until that litigation is resolved,” said Neiman, before the city makes a decision on how to approach the issue.
Council looks at Lake Glenn Subdivision
One issue scheduled for this evening's meeting that's expected to draw a lot of attention is consideration of a final map for the Lake Glenn Subdivision, which is near the senior center and borders Rumsey Road, Neiman said.
The 32-lot subdivision is in the second of its three phases, said Neiman.
Neighbors have voiced concerns aimed primarily at making sure the subdivision's future homes are of comparable quality to those built earlier by Bay Area developer Robert Adelman, said Neiman.
Neiman said he's talked to about half a dozen neighbors, who also have wanted the minimum house sizes in the subdivision to stay at 1,200 square feet.
Adelman received permission from a previous Community Development director to reduce the minimum square footage to 1,000 square feet, said Neiman, who added Adelman has agreed to return to the 1,200 square foot size.
Homes built in the subdivision between 2002 and 2006 ranged between $118 and $220 per square foot in price, Neiman said. The minimum sales price for future homes would be at $200 per square foot, or $240,000.
Neiman said he hopes the council will be able to address the neighbors' concerns and clear up misinformation that he said exists about the development.
Business park development on the agenda
In other development news, in January the city began negotiating with Katz Kirkpatrick Properties of Roseville regarding an exclusive negotiation agreement for developing the 26-acre Clearlake Commercial Development Site – also known as the Clearlake Business Park – near the Outrageous Waters location.
This evening, the council will consider entering into that agreement, said Neiman.
Katz Kirkpatrick has developed close to 50 shopping centers, many in Northern California, with clients including Kohl's, Home Depot, Target, Raley's and Wal-Mart, according to a company background.
As part of the agreement, Katz Kirkpatrick would submit a conceptual plan, there would be an environmental study and appraisal, eventually leading to the city selling the developer the property, said Neiman.
“When we enter into this agreement, it basically establishes a process for working though all those details,” Neiman explained.
If the agreement stays on schedule, Neiman said, in two years a development plan and sale could be completed.
The council will hold a closed session on the business park agreement and negotiations on the Austin Resort property.
Neiman said the city continues to discuss a possible development at the old Austin Resort with the firm Income Property Specialists.
“I'm optimistic we'll reach an agreement,” he said.
The process to complete the agreement would take another year, said Neiman. Necessary steps would include an environmental review, permitting, and a disposition and development agreement that would include what project would be developed and a purchase price for the developer.
“We're trying to negotiate the best project we can for the community,” said Neiman.
He added that there will be “plenty of public review” through that process.
Lots of applicants for Vision Task Force
Also on the agenda, the council will make appointments to its Vision Task Force, which officials hope will help chart a course for the city's future.
Neiman said the city has received 50 applications for membership, which the council opened last month to local business and property owners.
As a result of the interest, the main task force is being split into two, one dealing with social issues, the other infrastructure and planning. Neiman said he expects all applicants will be appointed to serve on one of those committees.
Before the regular council meeting at 6 p.m., the council will hold a special meeting at 2:30 p.m. for a study session followed by a closed session discussion of litigation against the city by RMM Environmental.
The council meets at 6 p.m. Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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SACRAMENTO – The State Senate Committee on Transportation & Housing on Tuesday passed three bills by Sen. Patricia Wiggins: SB 735 (CalTrans tracking of recycled materials), SB 773 (vehicle length exemptions for livestock carriers), and SB 861 (North Coast Railroad Authority).
A fourth measure, SJR 4 (Klamath River salmon), was also approved today by the Senate Natural Resources & Water Committee.
Following are brief summaries of each of the Wiggins bills approved in their respective committees:
– SB 735, to require the state Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to establish a system for tracking the amount of recycled aggregated materials used in highway construction projects and report the information to the Legislature every two years (the Senator’s goal is to help divert usable materials such as recycled asphalt and crushed concrete away from landfills and toward road construction).
– SB 773, to waive trucking restrictions on U.S. Highway 101 for local cattle ranchers (the restrictions have forced many North Coast ranchers to ship their livestock out of the area and then re-load them on to bigger trucks elsewhere, increasing costs).
– SB 861, to enable the North Coast Railroad Authority to reallocate $5.5 million of Traffic Congestion Relief Program revenues toward environmental cleanup.
– SJR4, to declare Legislative support for efforts in Congress to provide assistance to fishing communities, businesses and individuals to mitigate the economic losses caused by declining populations of Klamath River fall chinook salmon.
Patricia Wiggins represents California’s 2nd Senate District, which includes part of Solano County plus all of Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa & Sonoma counties.
To read committee analysis of the first three bills visit the following links.
– http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_0701-0750/sb_735_cfa_20070405_162138_sen_comm.html
– http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_0751-0800/sb_773_cfa_20070405_162219_sen_comm.html
– http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_0851-0900/sb_861_cfa_20070405_162250_sen_comm.html
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BLUE LAKES – A motorcycle rider involved in a multi-vehicle accident near Blue Lakes on Friday was seriously hurt, losing his foot and suffering other major injuries.
California Highway Patrol Officer Josh Dye reported Monday that the Friday accident, which closed down Highway 20 for about 45 minutes, involved a motorcycle and three cars.
Stephanie Fauerberg, 22, of Sun Valley, Nev., was driving a black Hyundai Elantra eastbound on Highway 20 east of Blue Lakes when she collided with 27-year-old Raul Garcia of Santa Rosa, driving a Chevy S-10 pickup, said Dye.
The pickup, said Dye, overturned in the highway's eastbound lane, directly in the path of a motorcycle driven by Eric Talley, 26, of Davis.
Dye said Talley swerved to the left to avoid Garcia's pickup, and hit a 2006 Honda minivan driven by Diane Foppoli, 61, of Rohnert Park.
Talley was flown by REACH helicopter to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, said Dye, while the other accident victims were taken to Sutter Lakeside Hospital. In addition to CHP, Northshore Fire and the Lake County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene, Dye said.
As a result of the accident Talley, who Dye said he spoke with earlier Monday, lost his left foot, suffered a broken back and a broken right knee, along with having all of the major bones in his left left shattered.
Fauerberg was found to be the driver at fault in the accident, Dye said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LAKE COUNTY – Home sales decreased 29.3 percent in March in Lake County compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home increased 14.4 percent according to information gathered by the Lake County Multiple Listing Service (MLS)
Caution must be exercised in being too optimistic concerning house values and what homes will sell for. With the news of sub prime lenders going bankrupt and the prediction of massive foreclosures on the horizon, property values may indeed go down rather than increase.
Delaying the sale of your property may not be the wise thing to do if property values are on a downward momentum.
"Sales in March were at their highest level in four months," said Phil Smoley, owner/broker of CPS Country Air Properties.
"Next few month's reports could tell a different story since sales last year peaked in June,” said Smoley. “Looking forward, we are likely to see smaller year-to-year declines as we enter the traditional buying season. Homes that are well-maintained and priced to reflect the realities of today's market will continue to sell."
Closed escrow sales of homes in Lake County totaled 65 in March according to information collected from the MLS. Countywide home resale activity decreased 29.3 percent from the 92 sales pace recorded in March 2006.
The median price of a home in Lake County during March 2007 was $305,000, a 14.4-percent increase over the $266,500 median for March 2006, the MLS. reported.
The March 2007 median price increased 10.9 percent compared with February's $275,000 median price.
Countywide, the number of homes for sale increased slightly in March. The unsold inventory stood at 18 months in March, compared with 22 months in February.
The average number of days it took for the homes that did sell was 156 days in March 2007, compared with 145 days (revised) for the same period a year ago.
Activity for March
Area Sales Median Price Average Days on Market
Buckingham 1 $768,000 51
Clr Lk Riviera 6 $287,500 180
Cobb 5 $325,000 231
Hidden Valley 8 $404,900 209
Kelseyville 4 $282,500 138
Lakeport North 8 $361,500 167
Lakeport South 3 $482,500 48
Riviera Heights 1 $241,000 46
Riviera West 0
Soda Bay 0
Realtor Ray Perry is a member of the CPS/Country Air Kelseyville office. Visit his Web site at www.rayperry.com for more information about local real estate.
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LAKEPORT – A three-vehicle accident that shut down part of 11th Street Friday resulted in only minor injuries for the drivers involved.
Lakeport Police Officer Brad Rasmussen said the accident occurred at 1 p.m. Friday in the 1200 block of 11th Street.
A Ford Thunderbird heading westbound had stopped and was waiting to make a left turn off of the street, Rasmussen said, when it was rear-ended by an Oldsmobile sedan, also traveling westbound on 11th.
The collision pushed the Thunderbird into the eastbound traffic lane, Rasmussen reported, where it was hit by a third vehicle, a Buick sedan.
All three drivers were local women, said Rasmussen, and all were wearing seat belts. He said all three suffered only very minor injuries, including scratches and complaints of pain, and all declined medical attention at the scene.
The Oldsmobile sustained major damage, while both the Thunderbird and Buick were moderately damaged, Rasmussen said. All three had to be towed from the scene.
The driver of the Oldsmobile was found to be at fault for traveling at a speed that was unsafe for conditions, Rasmussen said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE – A plan to replace existing structures at the gated Hidden Valley Lake subdivision has turned into a contentious issue, pitting a coalition of residents against the HVLA board of directors and management.
Spokesmen for the Hidden Valley Lake Association of Concerned Citizens say they are prepared to go to any lengths to block replacement of a building on Hartmann Road housing a restaurant, bar and golf pro shop, a community activity building and an administration building. All three of the buildings are reportedly at least 35 years old.
Strange as it seems, a possible scenario is that the HVLA members would, in effect, be suing themselves in the event the issue becomes a litigious matter.
The coalition is demanding that a decision on whether to go ahead on the construction project be put to a vote of the general HVLA membership.
But HVLA General Manager Rick Archbold says that moving ahead on what estimates have put in the range of a $10 million construction project is strictly a board decision, because it involves replacing older facilities.
A vote of the membership at large is required only if new facilities are to be built where none had existed before, he said.
In this case, Archbold says the subdivision’s general membership will never be allowed to vote on the construction project.
“I can’t answer for the board, but my opinion is no. Why? (Because) this is what board is to do ... repair, restore, maintain or replace ... and that’s right out of the civil code,” he said.
Archbold added he has told coalition leaders “they don’t have the right to demand a vote on replacing a facility.”
Thus, the battle lines are drawn.
So far, the coalition has delivered a petition protesting the project with 291 qualified signatures to the board, accompanied by a letter from Geoffrey A. Munroe, a Concord attorney.
The letter expresses the coalition’s position regarding submitting the decision on replacement facilities to a general election and sets forth guidelines on how an election should be conducted.
But while personally certifying that 291 signatures on the petition are HVLA members in good standing, Archbold scoffs at the letter..
“If you don’t react to that (Munroe’s letter), so what? ‘I’m going to sue you.’ For what? Not responding to your letter?” says Archbold, adding that he thinks the Concerned Citizens should get the money they paid Munroe back.
“They can require anything they want,” says Archbold. “The law is something we adhere to; not somebody who’s making this stuff up.”
Additionally, he said that by hiring Munroe the coalition had effectively cut off any possibility of direct conversations with the board and management and put future communications in the hands of attorneys. He said that he had warned coalition leader Alec McCourquodale this would happen.
“ ... So, now the association is going to be spending lots of money in talking about things we could have talked about for no money,” said Archbold, “but I’m assuming somebody is paying for this guy Munroe.”
Bob Tingey, a spokesman for the coalition, has expressed hopes that discussions between Munroe and the HVLA attorney could enable the two sides to “settle this out like gentlemen.”
And Archbold is hopeful that three “town hall” meetings, held on April 14 and 17, giving residents a “chance to be heard” on the replacement-building issue will ease some of the tension.
At the meetings, he said, a facilitator will collect the ideas for what Hidden Valley Lake residents would want included in new facilities.
“We are in a state of flux right now,” Archbold said. “This board and this management have no clue as to what we’re going to be building. The reason is we haven’t talked to the community. Everybody is going to come up with a different idea of what they think the function ought to be.”
Just how much cooperation the town meetings will get from the coalition remains to be seen. At the moment, Tingey said, the group is prepared to take its next step in May. One of those steps, Tingey told a group of homeowners in a meeting last month, could result in the homeowners in the HVLA suing themselves.
“We have two options,” he said. “Both of them are going to be expensive. One is an injunction to get this thing shut down – the other one is a recall of the board.”
Most of the coalition’s anger over the project is aimed at Archbold, whom they believe is dictating to the HVLA Board of Directors.
Regarding the board, Tingey said, “They’re spineless, weak people (who) let Archbold run the show, because he’s a very aggressive individual.”
Archbold disputes that, saying he functions at board meetings much like a city manager or county executive for Hidden Valley, a community of 7,200 residents: his job is counseling, not ordering, he said.
“People like this – for whatever political or personal reasons – are stirring this pot of disinformation and making it look like the people who are trying to do this (build replacement buildings) are in some way evil or have some special agenda,” he says. “I come back and say to you, ‘What would that be?’
“What am I doing this for? It’s not going to be named the Rick Archbold Memorial Country Club.”
For a discussion of several sub-issues involved in the situation at HVL, see the related story, “Several secondary issues add to HVL strife.”
E-mail John Lindblom at
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