The proposed Cristallago development and its final environmental impact report will go before the commission at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, in the board chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
Petaluma firm Christopher A. Joseph and Associates completed the final EIR, according to Emily Minton, the county planner handling the application.
Cristallago Development Corp., headed by partners Matt Boeger and Mark Mitchell, proposes to create a “residential and destination resort community” on 860 acres along Hill Road, according to the project's Web site and planning documents.
“We're focused on getting this thing approved,” Boeger told Lake County News.
The subdivision will include up to 650 single family residential lots, with 325 resort units, an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course and a 25,000-square-foot (or more) clubhouse, community center, spa, restaurant, conference facility and nature preserve, according to planning documents.
The plan also requires general plan amendments and rezones of agriculture, rural lands and open space for planned residential and commercial development.
The Tuscan-themed homes will sit on lots ranging in size from 5,400 to 10,000 square feet in size, and will access an internal trail system on 567 acres that will be set aside for open space, according to the project's Web site. The resort properties will be clustered in and around the “Tuscan Hillside Village,” set to be situated on the hillside overlooking the 18th fairway.
Minton said that in addition to considering the final EIR's certification, the commission will need to make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors on the project and review if it complies with the county's new general plan.
She said the property where the project would be built isn't currently owned by Cristallago Development Corp., but is held by four other property owners.
“It needs to be rezoned still, which is ultimately the decision of the Board of Supervisors,” said Minton.
Boeger said they will have to “tweak” their resort plan and reconfigure it as far as the mix of hotel, condos and timeshares. “We think it's pretty clearly within the impacts that are currently considered.”
He said they're looking at bringing the resort and commercial aspect into phase one, and pushing the residential development back.
“The resort piece is going to become much more prominent at the beginning of construction,” said Boeger, explaining that the restaurant, golf course and conference center will be part of that.
Separate marina project part of bankruptcy
The project's plans note that Clear Lake is Cristallago's “core amenity.” In order to access it, the project is seeking an easement to make a physical connection with a 110-acre lakeside property called the Marina at Lyons Creek, where plans had called for constructing a marina, fishing lodge and beach club is proposed for construction, according to the project Web site.
Minton said that property initially was discussed as part of the formal project, and a subdivision application was submitted a few years ago amidst a “swarm” of other such applications at the time when retired District 1 Supervisor Ed Robey had suggested a brief moratorium on subdivision applications.
The county said that an EIR needed to be completed, and sent the developers a letter to that effect, said Minton.
“For some reason it just wasn't included,” she said, noting it wasn't a formal part of the project after that, although the Cristallago Web site mentions it in the plans.
Minton noted that no process to develop that property has begun since that initial application.
Boeger, who is president of Cristallago Development Corp. and a principal in Boeger Land Development, also maintains another corporation, Boeger Land Investments, that holds a 50-percent share in the marina property.
Earlier this summer, Boeger Land Investments declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Federal bankruptcy documents show the company has listed its 50-percent holding in the property as being valued at $6 million, with total liabilities of $3.2 million. An appraisal from December of 2008 estimated the property's value at $1,125,000.
Westamerica Bank, which holds the note on the property, is taking Boeger Land Investments to court in an attempt to foreclose on the property and sell it, according to court records. Hearings on Westamerica's request were scheduled for July and August, but have been rescheduled to Oct. 8 in bankruptcy court in Santa Rosa.
In a filing last month, Westamerica Bank's attorneys explained that the bank and Boeger Land Investments executed a note for $550,000 plus interest on July 24, 2008, following mediation.
“This note was negotiated in good faith and based on the promises of the debtor to timely pay,” the bank's representatives stated. “After 11 months of discussions and promises of payment by the debtor, Westamerica Bank was forced to begin foreclosure proceeding because of the inaction of the debtor.”
Boeger Land Investments subsequently filed for bankruptcy protection this past June.
The documents also explain that Boeger purchased the 50-percent ownership in the property in May of 2007 “and has been unable to obtain new funding for two years.”
Boeger told Lake County News that Boeger Land Investments was a company formed to hold a single asset – the marina property – which it purchased out of bankruptcy, as is, with a huge accrued tax liability. He said they have an application on the land pending resolution of water and tax issues.
The bankruptcy has been the subject of a few closed sessions by the Board of Supervisors because of tax issues.
Lake County Tax Collector Sandra Kacharos supplied Lake County News with tax documents on the property that show it has been the subject of years of tax defaults and past bankruptcies.
Unpaid property taxes due to the county on the land for the time period of 1987 through 2004 is approximately $1,171,055.64; the grand total due through June 30, 2010, is just over $1.4 million. Interest on the unpaid balances and bankruptcy agreement continues to accrue daily.
Ultimately, the marina is a “completely separate project” from Cristallago, said Boeger.
He doesn't believe that the bank has a chance to take the property, which he said would subvert the entire bankruptcy process.
Boeger said the idea behind the marina project is to improve the property and construct the development, which would be under a club structure and available to Cristallago residents.
Jim Burns, a Cristallago partner, said the worst thing thing that could happen is that they would have to negotiate separate trail access to the lake. But Burns emphasized it won't affect the main Cristallago development and property.
Many more steps ahead
If the Planning Commission certifies the project's final EIR Thursday and makes a positive recommendation to the Board of Supervisors, the board will then have to consider the rezone and general plan of development, said Boeger.
“There's a lot of steps we've got to do before we break ground,” he said.
If they approve the project, the developers would still have to submit specific plans, which will require California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review and a number of mitigations – from archaeological to habitat, said Boeger.
In the best case scenario, Boeger estimated the project couldn't break ground until the spring of 2011.
The final EIR is available at the Lake County government Web site at www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Community_Development/Documents/Cristallago_Final_EIR.htm .
Hard copies also are available at the Lakeport County Library, and at the Lake County Community Development Department, located on the third floor of the courthouse.
Visit the Cristallago Web site at www.cristallago.com/ .
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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