CLEARLAKE OAKS – Northshore resident Clelia Baur has been named District 3's new representative on Lake County's Planning Commission.

 

Supervisor Denise Rushing made the announcement at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting. Baur's selection was confirmed by a board vote.

 

Baur said she was first exposed to planning and development issues in her last job, when she worked for Berkeley-based Bayer HealthCare as its director of public policy and communications.

 

In that role, one of her primary functions was the administration of Bayer's highly complex 30-year development agreement with the City of Berkeley.

 

She said the agreement covered Bayer's 45-acre biotech facility, and how it planned to satisfy the community's needs while satisfying its business goals as the facility grew and developed.

 

While administrating the plan, Baur said she attended many development and planning meetings, and got her first exposure to planning-related issues and processes.

 

“What really moved me to apply for this position on the Planning Commission was that experience,” she said, which taught her that a good, balanced approach to community development can be a win-win situation for everyone.

 

Baur grew up in Washington, D.C., and moved to Oakland in 1974. She holds a bachelor's degree in art from the University of California, Berkeley, and speaks fluent Italian and some German.

 

After graduating from university Baur was co-owner of her own graphic design business in San Francisco. She went on to hold positions in marketing, communications and art direction with a number of Bay Area biotechnology firms, including Roche Molecular Systems and Bio-Rad Laboratories, and eventually Bayer.

 

Her past professional activities include serving as first vice chair of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce Executive Board, founding member and steering team member of the Berkeley Alert multi-agency crisis response group. Baur also was a member of the South and West Berkeley Health Forum and Hemophilia Foundation of Northern California.

 

Now retired from Bayer, Baur has her own communications consulting business.

 

She said she's looking forward to joining the Planning Commission, which will be a new experience.

 

Baur will succeed Marvin Butler, who Rushing said “has been a tremendous planning commissioner for Lake County.”

 

“He's been very gracious and very good to stay on the two months while I went through this process,” Rushing said.

 

Baur's first Planning Commission meeting will be on March 8, said Rushing.

 

In selecting a new commissioner, Rushing said she went through a lengthy process that included interviewing 12 applicants.

 

Rushing said she had a series of “competencies” in mind that she hoped the new commissioner would possess.

 

“I was specifically looking for someone who would add a new dimension to the Planning Commission,” Rushing said.

 

That new dimension for Rushing included someone with both the perspective and ability to work with other commission members.

 

Rushing said she was very impressed with Baur, who understands smart growth principals and has worked with diverse groups of people to come to consensus.

 

During the interview process, Rushing said she wasn't looking for the right answer, but wanted to know more about how the applicants' approached certain problems. She said Baur's thought processes impressed her.

 

Approaching the challenges ahead will be crucial in that position, Rushing explained.

 

“We face many, many tough planning decisions – development along the lakeshore, the agricultural lands issues, etc. – so it's going to require some really thoughtful analysis and hard work, and also some new ideas,” Rushing said.

 

She added that she's thrilled Baur has the time and the interest to devote to the position.

 

Baur said she began vacationing in Lake County in the 1970s with her children. She and her husband, Jim, purchased a home in Clearlake Oaks in 2001, and moved to the county full-time last April, after they had both retired.

 

This Friday, Butler will take Baur and Monica Rosenthal, the recently appointed District 1 planning commissioner, on a tour of District 3.

 

Butler will be honored at the Board of Supervisors' March 13 meeting, Rushing said.

 

Baur said the Northshore is a lovely place.

 

“There's work to be done but there's so much potential for a really favorable outcome for everybody concerned,” she said.

 

 

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

 

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