CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council took no action Tuesday to extend the city's current building moratorium on Lakeshore Drive.

The moratorium expires on Sunday.

The temporary building moratorium prohibits new construction and major remodels on properties located within the Lakeshore Drive Corridor, which extends from Olympic Drive to Old Highway 53.

Originally adopted in July, the council extended the ordinance on Oct. 24. It was meant to provide time for implementing design guidelines to be used in the processing of planning and building permit applications that are within the “design district” overlay on the commercial zone districts in the Lakeshore Drive corridor.

The council has yet to move forward with accepting to those guidelines, which it sent back to the Clearlake Planning Commission for more work last month.

Council members on Tuesday came to the consensus that extending the moratorium would not be in the best interests of the city, with particular concern for public perception of the moratorium during and after its implementation.

“The idea of 'moratorium' ... It's not a friendly word,” Councilmember Joey Luiz said.

He agreed with Councilwoman Jeri Spittler that it makes people second guess their investments in Clearlake.

Since the moratorium was put in place, the Clearlake Planning Commission has worked on its recommendation to the council concerning the design guidelines submitted by the Clearlake Vision Task Force.

The Vision Task Force prepared the document in 2008; however, the guidelines were “overlooked” in adoption, according to City Manager Joan Phillipe.

The council sent the recommendation back to the commission at its Nov. 14 meeting without clear indication of how it will proceed.

Lakeshore Drive business owner Vince Metzger, who had been on the task force, said he was asked by members of the Vision Task Force to address the council.

He said the economy and the status of the redevelopment agency – which has since been dissolved – were different when the Vision Task Force prepared the document.

“Conditions were different in those days,” Metzger said. “It takes a long time to redesign a city, especially when the economy is like this. I think, we should be encouraging development not preventing it.”

The council is expected to receive a presentation regarding the Lakeshore Drive Downtown Corridor Plan at it next regular meeting on Dec. 12.

“That is going to be a better driving document than the one from 2008,” Councilmember Gina Fortino Dickson said.

Fortino Dickson shared Spittler's concern for the aftermath of implementing a moratorium in that the notion of it must be publicly eliminated.

She said she had been a “victim” of such circumstances when she was building her own home. She said she was informed through unofficial channels that there was a moratorium on sewer connections in the area she was optioning. However, the moratorium at the time was no longer in place.

Fortino Dickson said that while there are not any applications for development submitted currently, \ there may be interested investors who are not acting because of the moratorium.

“Word on the street could be 'there is a moratorium there, don't bother,'” she said, explaining it takes considerable time for that perception to change.

“I concur. The longer (the moratorium is in place) the longer it takes to clear that perception,” Phillipe said.

Ann Carlin and Quincy Jackson, who own separate businesses on Lakeshore Drive, voiced concern for implications the moratorium could have on existing businesses in light of recent windstorms that caused damage in the area.

Jackson said while his business did not suffer major damage, he questioned his ability to rebuild had damage occurred. Carlin posed a similar concern.

Spittler cited their concerns and also questioned the moratorium's potential effect on the rebuilding of Wisedas Resort, which was destroyed by fire in February. She said she was against extending the moratorium.

“It's unfriendly to the business community, at this point, to an area that is already suffering from blight,” she said.

Vice Mayor Denise Loustalot said the process for implementing the guidelines was taking too long and that she didn't want the community to suffer for it. “I don't support this,” she said.

Luiz said while he recognizes the process is taking too long, he thinks the guidelines are important and something should be adopted to steer the city in future.

He said he's heard negative comments about additional types of businesses like auto parts stores being allowed to locate on Lakeshore Drive. As a permitted use, he said there was little the city could do to prevent types of businesses.

“If we drop (the moratorium), people will have to understand, we don't have that control,” Luiz said.

Mayor Joyce Overton was absent from the meeting.

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