CLEARLAKE, Calif. – At its meeting Tuesday, the Clearlake Planning Commission discussed a proposed variance at a gas station property on Lakeshore Drive and the city’s general plan update, and postponed a discussion on a draft ordinance that would regulate medical marijuana cultivation in the city.

City Manager Joan Phillipe told the commission that due to late developments and discussions with the city attorney that afternoon, the issue needed to be looked at further and therefore could not be heard that evening. It was postponed to a future date.

The commission then turned to an application for a variance for an accessory living unit at the Shell gas station on Lakeshore Drive.  

The applicant, Gurdarshan Singh – represented by his architect, David Lark – is proposing to build a second story living unit above the existing convenience store.  

The current zoning, C3-DD – “Visitor Commercial, Design District” – limits the maximum building area to 3,000 square feet. The variance submitted is requesting the increase to 5,026 square feet to accommodate the proposed addition.  

Surrounding neighbors and public agencies were notified of the variance application, with the only comment returned to the city coming from an adjoining neighbor, Alan Johnson.  

Johnson asked that a condition be placed on the resolution requiring that it not be a rental unit, that only the tenant, family or employees could reside there.  

Phillipe said that request had been discussed with the city attorney, and that the city could not legally add this condition to the variance. Singh said the new unit would only be owner-occupied, and that he would not rent it out.

Lark discussed screening and privacy of the windows of the proposed structure. He plans to design the windows with privacy, benefiting both the owner and neighbors.

He also fielded questions about the amount of parking spaces and whether they were up to code with the increased square footage. With more than 20 spaces, the code’s requirement of 2.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet was fulfilled.

City resident Aqeela El-Amin Bakheit asked the commission for clarification on several of the project’s aspects, including the property’s square footage. The square footage is 15,000 square feet, three times the amount of the minimum square footage lots.  

Commission Chairman Carl Webb discussed the traffic going onto Lakeshore Drive from the existing convenience store/gas station. As this is a residential unit, the existing traffic would not change, and the commissioners agreed that a busy street was a good thing to see in the city.  

The Vision Task Force report was mentioned, as it discussed having future residential uses only on the land side of Lakeshore Drive, and not the lake side.

Lark said those recommendations were not in the city’s code, and therefore could not be enforced. The visibility of the lake from Lakeshore Drive would not be blocked, one reason why the Vision Task Force report recommended restricting building on the lake side of Lakeshore Drive.  

The commissioners, who approved the variance application 4-0, indicated they were pleased to see new building in the city.

The next topic of discussion was the update of the development of the new general plan.

A $40,000 grant from the Lake County/City Area Planning Council is allowing the city to hire second year graduate students from Cal Poly to update the circulation element of the general plan.

Phillipe said that to be able to update the plan for that amount was unheard of, as updating could cost substantially more.  

There will be two more workshops on the general plan update: Feb. 9, and either March 2 or March 9 at this time, she said.

Phillipe said the Cal Poly students are enthusiastic about the project, and expect to have a draft ready by end of June.  

The next step is for the students to create an environmental impact report. Phillipe is locating grant funds to complete that document.

After that is the zoning ordinance update, followed by the zoning map update. Updating all of those  documents, according to Phillipe, would be beneficial for the community, the planning commission,  future projects and potential developers.

Commissioner Bill Perkins said of the circulation element that roundabouts should allow buses and semi trucks. He pointed out that some cities that did not allow those vehicles.  

Phillipe confirmed that both types would be allowed if a roundabout would be constructed near the intersection of Lakeshore Drive and Old Highway 53.

Phillipe also gave an update on the Lakeshore Drive Downtown Corridor Study project. She said she hoped to see the final draft this winter, and that she would update the commission once the draft was completed.

In other commission news, the city is now taking applications from the community for three seats on the commission.

Two planning commissioner terms are expiring – those of Webb and Perkins – and Gina Fortino Dickson’s seat became vacant after she was elected to the Clearlake City Council last November. It’s not been reported if Webb and Perkins will apply for reappointment.

The deadline for applications is Feb. 28; applications are available at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive, or by emailing City Clerk Melissa Swanson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Based on the applications, the city council would make the appointments to fill the three commission seats.

Email Nathalie V. Antus at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .