CLEARLAKE – In a special meeting that stretched across nearly six hours Thursday evening, the Clearlake City Council and Clearlake Redevelopment Agency heard voluminous public testimony about the merits of a proposed regional shopping center on Highway 53, but council members took no action.
The plans for the former Pearce Airport property – proposed to include a Lowe's home improvement center and four more yet-to-be-determined commercial tenants, likely fast food restaurants – were explained and debated before more than 100 people who filled the council chambers to standing room only. Still more people spilled out into Clearlake City Hall's lobby.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Judy Thein assured the community members that the meeting was going to be devoted to taking input on the proposed sale of 15 acres of the property to KK Raphel of Danville, which proposes to develop the site; the mitigated negative declaration, which is the environmental study completed so far; and the environmental review process.
“The council will be making no decisions tonight,” Thein said.
City Administrator Dale Neiman gave a detailed presentation on the project, and Mike Raphel, a principal of KK Raphel, also spoke before it was opened up to the public.
Approximately 43 people spoke to the council about the plan – some of them more than once – with 26 of those people expressing concerns about the plan or opposing it altogether; 13 people voicing support; and four others who didn't voice a clear opinion either way.
Those who spoke in favor of the project called attention to a need for jobs and more variety of goods, and pointed to the fact that the land was intended for that use all along.
“This is exactly what the property was purchased for and a use that fits the property,” said Dave Hughes, a local Realtor.
Many of those who opposed the project were concerned that many long-established local businesses were being left to languish along Lakeshore Drive while the city planned to spend as much as $7 million in redevelopment funds to assist KK Raphel with making the site buildable. The effect, they argued, would be to draw focus from the city's downtown area.
“I think it's terrible that the heart of our community is going to be neglected like that,” said businesswoman Jeri Spittler.
With midnight approaching – the council voted to extend the meeting past 10 p.m. – and most of the audience having left due to the late hour, several community members asked the council to extend the public comment on the mitigated negative declaration to the end of the month.
Vice Mayor Joyce Overton moved to do that, but the motion died for lack of a second.
Councilman Chuck Leonard then moved to close the public hearing, which Councilman Curt Giambruno seconded.
Herb Gura, a Clearlake Oaks resident and owner of a Clearlake business, asked the council to reconsider lengthening the written public comment period. “I just can't imagine why you would be in that much of a hurry to rush this through,” he said.
Overton also asked fellow council members not to close the public hearing but to continue it at the next meeting.
Sierra Club Lake Group Chair Victoria Brandon suggested that, “It's exceptionally unusual to have one public hearing on a project of this magnitude.”
She also urged the council to give additional public time for written comments, as she said it would help dispel a “cloud of suspicion” that had arisen over the project.
But officials said they had met the legal requirements.
“We have followed state law. We've been very clear about that,” said Thein.
The council voted 4-1 to close the public hearing, with Overton voting no.
Giambruno then moved to bring the matter back for a decision in another special meeting on Jan. 12, but Neiman said staff wouldn't be able to complete the process of writing responses to all those who commented on the plan by that point.
Instead, the council agreed to continue its discussion – with a view to making decisions – on the project during its next regularly scheduled meeting on Jan. 14.
Lake County News will publish a detailed report of the meeting this weekend.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
