LUCERNE – Following the news last week that the sheriff's office may soon have a new substation in Lucerne, there's now confirmation that Code Enforcement is moving to the Northshore town.

“At this point we do plan to move Code Enforcement over there,” Community Development Director Rick Coel told Lake County News.

Code Enforcement's staff of 10 employees will be located on the second story of the Lucerne Visitor Information Center, located at 6110 E. Highway 20, Coel said.

The sheriff's office currently is using the visitor center's upstairs space, said Coel.

However, with the Board of Supervisors' Dec. 18 approval of an option agreement to buy property at 6222 and 6224 E. Highway 20 – where the sheriff's substation would be housed – the visitor center space will become available for Code Enforcement, said Coel.

Code Enforcement likely won't make the move until February or March, Coel added.

There are several reasons for the move, said Coel.

For one, he said, county government would like to have a presence in Lucerne. He suggested that having government offices there could help the town's economy, especially as county employees patronize local businesses.

Another reason is purely practical: “We have a shortage of space in our department,” said Coel, and the new location will solve that problem.

The entire Northshore – not just Lucerne – is a high priority for Code Enforcement, Coel explained, so the move make sense from that perspective.

“There is a certain efficiency to it because we've been focusing on the visible community, especially the highway corridors,” he said.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

{mos_sb_discuss:2}