LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Bay Area firm's major use permit application for the renovation and expansion of Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa will be the focus of a Lake County Planning Commission hearing this week.
The commission will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, in the Board of Supervisors chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
Resort Equities LLC, based in San Francisco, is seeking the permit, as Lake County News has reported.
The firm signed a purchase agreement Aug. 1 to purchase the 58-acre resort, which is located at 8727 Soda Bay Road in Kelseyville.
The resort, owned by UA Local 38 Convalescent Trust, was closed in November 2009. The property will require significant renovations, according to Grant Sedgwick, Resort Equities' president and a developer with decades of experience in similar resort and commercial projects.
Thursday's public hearing will consider a mitigated negative declaration based on an initial study for the major use permit.
The considerations include Resort Equities' plans to offer fractional and timeshare ownership, with the use permit to incorporate all existing resort amenities, including the outdoor concert venue.
A variance from the provisions of the county's shoreline ordnance also is being sought to allow Resort Equities to replace lakefront amenities and construct a new party deck. Sedgwick told Lake County News in a previous interview that some of the resort's decks were destroyed in a storm a few years ago.
The report to the commission from Principal Planner Kevin Ingram and Community Development Director Rick Coel, which can be seen below, details some of the major points of the renovation plan.
The plans include demolishing the Vista Cloud building and Beach Cottages, the VIP suite and the Lakeside Haven Apartments, all of which are either “functionally obsolete, deteriorated beyond repair, poorly located or all three,” the report said.
Resort Equities proposes to construct 75 new hotel rooms adjacent to the existing swimming pools and beach recreation area, and another 164 new shared ownership residential units, Ingram and Coel reported.
The Vista Lake, Vista Breeze and Vista Sky buildings are proposed to undergo extensive renovation in order to convert 102 studio units into 34 two-bedroom units, the report explains. There also would be extensive renovation of the Vista Sun, Vista Moon and Vista Star buildings that house a total 48 one-bedroom units.
Other plan details include increasing the number of boat slips from 100 to 275, construction of a party deck and promenade, development of a new waterside bar and grill, improvement of the clubhouse in addition of a new guest arrival court, renovation and improvement of indoor and outdoor public spaces along the lakeside, expansion and relocation of the boatyard building, improvement of the amphitheater facility and the addition of new concession stands, upgraded landscaping, sidewalks and pedestrian paths, and the development of a small vineyard with a wine tasting room.
Coel and Ingram are recommending that the commission adopt the mitigated negative declaration, and approve the use permit and shoreline variance that Resort Equities is seeking.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
120513 Lake County Planning Commission - Konocti Harbor Permit
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