LAKEPORT – With a rezoning from "R1-MH" (single family mobile home) to "R1-RD" (single family residential-residential) design, the standards for building a home in Clearlake Oaks' Orchard Shores subdivision got a lot more restrictive on Tuesday.

The rezoning was accomplished with a 5-0 vote by the Lake County Board of Supervisors in response to a request by the Orchard Shores Homeowners Association.

The zoning change, which applies only to new construction, requires a minimum of 1,000 square feet of floor space, superseding 720 square feet for permanent structures and 560 square feet for mobile homes.

Additionally, the new construction standards require a two-car garage and such minute details as eaves measuring 16 inches (instead of one foot – 6 inches in the case of mobile homes) and a 3:12 roof pitch versus a 2:12 pitch.

Harold Branco, who introduced himself as the (one-person) architectural committee for Orchard Shores, was the lone spokesman for the 188-house subdivision's homeowner assn.

"This is the way we want it. This is where we live," said Branco, who says he has been an Orchard Shores resident for 15 years and could remember when higher standards – such as concrete foundations and longer driveways to keep cars from parking on the streets – were the rule.

"We don't want parking on the street at night in any of our five cul de sacs," he added.

The zoning change, proposed largely to improve aesthetics in the Orchard Shores area, received the full approval of the county Planning Commission, who forwarded to the supervisors.

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

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