LAKEPORT – The draft Rivieras Plan is no longer a draft – it's now part of the county's official planning documents.
The plan was accepted 5-0 at Tuesday night's hearing, reported District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown.
Community Development Director Rick Coel said in a previous interview that the county's area plans are ways to add localized refinement to the county's General Plan, which also is in the update process.
Tuesday night's meeting lasted three and a half hours, and was a followup to a slightly longer meeting on the plan held Dec. 19.
Brown said the only “significant changes” made were to a 22-acre parcel owned by Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa owns.
The Rivieras Plan Committee had suggested downzoning it to rural residential instead of the requested
commercial resort zoning.
Brown said the General Plan will allow for suburban reserve zoning – with one home per acre – with a plan development review process.
The final zoning, Brown said, is consistent with the Riviera West's zoning.
The zoning change, Brown noted, “came as a result of discussions I had with committee members between the last meting and now.”
All of the committee members, he said, agreed it was appropriate zoning.
Peter Windrem, attorney of the UA Local Convalescent Fund, which owns Konocti Harbor, called the changes to the property's zoning “drastic downzoning.”
It will be an issue that Kenwood Investments, which is interested in buying the resort, will likely look at during their current due diligence period, said Windrem. He said in a previous interview that the zoning could impact whether or not the sale takes place.
Development could occur on the 22 acres, said Windrem, but it would include a very intensive planning process that would allow a maximum of 22 units – or one home per acre – on the site.
Kenwood Investments had reportedly expressed interest in adding more to the resort, including time-share condominiums.
A 55-acre orchard near the resort, owned by Mazzola family, also was a candidate for rezoning, due in part to the potential sale of the resort to Kenwood Investments. The plan committee had suggested it be zoned rural residential while the Planning Commission suggested commercial resort zoning.
“We didn't agree that was appropriate,” Brown said, so the board went back to the committee's original recommendation of zoning the orchard for rural residential.
Rivieras resident Angie Siegel is a member of the Rivieras Plan Committee.
Regarding the zoning around Konocti Harbor, Siegel explained, “We never discussed any radical expansion of Konocti. We hadn't known of any impending sale.”
Instead, she said, the committee “zoned it for what it was,” and tried to make the area around it – such as the orchard – fit with the area's rural character.
“Everyone seemed to be really happy with the decision,” said Brown. “The developers may have felt otherwise, but I felt the committee actually made a wise and reasonable recommendation that did not undermine the property rights of anybody.”
Siegel had also expressed concerns about the zoning of the golf course that previously had belonged to the Clearlake Riviera Yacht and Golf Club in a letter to the board for this week's meeting.
The golf course is now under new ownership, she noted in the letter, and the owners had requested suburban reserve zoning on part of the course. The committee, she explained, recommended planned development commercial (PDC) zoning with a land use designation of commercial resort for the entire course; that's consistent with its current use and also matches the recommended zoning for both the Riviera Hills Golf Course and the Buckingham Golf Course.
The commercial zoning, she said, will allow the owners to expand the existing facilities. “It actually gives them, in my opinion, and enhanced value for their property.”
The committee, however, didn't propose zoning that would allow homes on the green. Her letter stated that wouldn't be acceptable to the Clearlake Riviera Homeowners Association.
She noted Wednesday, “They can always, of course, apply for a rezone, as anybody can.”
Siegel called the supervisors' acceptance of the golf course zoning “the best we could have hoped for.”
Siegel and her husband, Alan, have lived in the Rivieras for about 13 years. Both are teachers at Carle Continuation High School in Lower Lake. Despite long work hours, she still managed to put a lot of time into the committee process over the last few years.
“It's been a long process, but a productive one,” she said. “I'm really very proud of the work that was done.
“Our area plan really addresses growth in a very positive and mindful way,” she said, noting that infill alone will have a significant impact on infrastructure in the Rivieras.
She said it's good to have the process “wrapped up.”
“The community really embraced it and supported the concepts that were were put forward.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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