Mayor Joyce Overton and Council member Judy Thein both were absent from the Thursday meeting due to illness. Vice Mayor Joey Luiz ran the meeting, which started about 20 minutes late due to a closed session discussion on property negotiations and the city administrator selection process.
During a closed session that took place before the council's May 12 meeting, council members accepted a settlement agreement with the Sierra Club Lake Group, as Lake County News has reported.
The group had sued because the city had accepted a mitigated negative declaration rather than requiring a full environmental impact report be completed on the shopping center project, to be located on the now-closed Pearce Field airport property.
Interim City Administrator Steve Albright explained at Thursday's meeting that one of the conditions of the settlement agreement was that both the city and the redevelopment agency had to rescind approvals for the mitigated negative declaration and the disposition and development agreement with KK Raphel Properties LLC of Roseville.
“That's the actions before you tonight,” Albright told the council.
He said the primary settlement issue in the agreement is the completion of a full environmental impact report.
Councilman Curt Giambruno moved to rescind the disposition and development agreement, with Council member Jeri Spittler seconding. The vote was 3-0.
The motion and vote to rescind the mitigated negative declaration was the same.
Albright told the council later during his report that there would be several items relating to the project on the council agenda over the coming three months.
He said that if the city was able to enter into a contract with an appraiser on Friday an appraisal should be completed on the property by June 23.
The city would then schedule a July 11 public hearing on selling the property to KK Raphel Properties, he said. Albright said he believes the Sierra Club is supportive of the sale.
The next steps after that will be related to the environmental documents, he said.
The city will select a contractor to complete the environmental impact report, hold a scoping meeting and file a notice of preparation, Albright said.
He said he hopes to have the environmental impact report under way by early September.
“That's a preview for you,” he said.
Giambruno asked Albright about the status of the expansion project Walmart had planned for its Clearlake store.
Albright said that project and its environmental impact report are on hold at Walmart's request.
While the company has indicated it's still planning the expansion, it has put similar plans on hold in other places, too, Albright said.
“We're all seeing the impact of the economic downtown,” said Albright.
However, he added, “They're not giving up at all.”
He said much of the work on the environmental impact report has been completed, and the city still has a substantial deposit from Walmart for the report work.
Albright said Walmart also was interested “in what's happening across the street” – referring to the shopping center project – and looking at the political situation. He said they would be remiss if they weren't looking at those issues.
He also reported to the council Thursday night that while the city didn't yet have an announcement on its new city administrator, a special meeting is planned for next Tuesday at which the decision will be on the agenda.
The council also voted 2-1 not to grant Rebecca Whitmire's appeal of the Clearlake Planning Commission's denial of a variance for property improvements that she had reportedly made without a permit, and approved the 2010-11 redevelopment agency budget.
The council also discussed a proposed medical marijuana dispensaries ordinance and agreed to send it back to the Clearlake Planning Commission for additional consideration. A story on that discussion will follow this weekend.
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