CLEARLAKE – In the spring, the Clearlake City Council gave its approval to the plans for a large housing development along Dam Road.
Provinsalia, proposed by Lake County Resort Partners Inc., would include 565 single-family homes, 100 condominiums and a nine-hole golf course on 292 acres along Cache Creek – located at 17012, 17055 and 17065 Dam Road.
Discussions of a project in that area had taken place for years, city officials noted, but Provinsalia was the first time it had actually taken shape.
In separate meetings in February and April, the council approved the project's environmental report, rezones, specific plan and general plan amendments.
Council members who voted in favor of the project hoped it would bring jobs and high quality new housing to the area.
At a Feb. 26 meeting, the council had limited public comment on new items in an updated staff report, which resulted in allegations of Brown Act violations.
City Attorney Malathy Subramanian prepared a report that concluded that the council had done nothing wrong but added the suggestion that they should consider taking additional public comment.
Public concern over the project had focused on possible impacts on Cache Creek, wildlife and cultural sites, as well as the list of limited liability corporations which had reportedly owned the land.
Dick Price represented the project before the Clearlake City Council, but he told Lake County News that Lake County Resort Partners Inc.'s main owner is Jorge Rangel de Alba, a wealthy Mexican businessman with multinational business interests.
Rangel de Alba initially was brought into the deal by another developer, Agustin Rosas-Maxemin of Armax International Inc. Rosas-Maxemin sold his rights to the project after Rangel de Alba decided not to have him continue.
Clearlake's Provinsalia was named after Armax's San Jose Provinsalia development.
Clearlake City Administrator Dale Neiman said this week that Provinsalia's developers are doing an analysis on the project to determine if they want to move forward in the next year or two or wait until later.
Neiman said the city only approved rezoning the property and adopting the specific plan. “The next step from them if they want to move forward is to submit a subdivision application,” he said.
Price said Neiman was correct about the analysis, and that he'll be in Clearlake the first week of January to start working on the next steps in the process.
“I just got the word today that we're going to move forward,” Price said Thursday.
Other significant developments in Lake County – Valley Oaks near Hidden Valley Lake and Cristallago near Lakeport – received Lake County Planning Commission approval on their environmental impact reports earlier this year. Valley Oaks and Cristallago, newsmakers in their own rights in 2009, should figure even more significantly in 2010.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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