LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Wednesday the Lakeport Planning Commission got to work on the early groundwork for updating the city's general plan, agreeing to remove the language for a golf course and housing development on city property and looking at how agricultural lands fit into the plan.
Richard Knoll, the city's retired Community Development director who now is working part-time as a special projects coordinator, took the general plan discussion to the commission Wednesday evening.
He said the process, which will unfold over several commission meetings, will involve a focused update, review and possible amendment of the city's general plan, last updated in 2009.
There also may be updates to other documents, including the city's zoning ordinance. “Frankly, we're not sure about that at this in point in time,” said Knoll.
The goal Wednesday evening, Knoll said, was to introduce the project, address questions from commissioners and reach consensus on some items to help move the project forward.
Typically, when communities are engaging in general plan updates there is a citizens advisory committee – independent of the planning commission – formed to meet regularly and arrive at consensus on policy goals and objectives, he said.
In the case of the city's current project, Knoll said they are eliminating the citizens/advisory committee approach, “primarily because it's a very focused project that we're involved with here,” and having the planning commission also assume that citizen advisory role.
One of the main discussion points Wednesday was the city's sphere of influence, the area that extends beyond its limits where urban growth is expected to occur in the future.
Going back to 1992, when the city went through a comprehensive general plan update, it included definitive policies about annexation and its sphere of influence, which were reaffirmed when the general plan's latest version was adopted in 2009, Knoll said.
In 2011, city staff completed a study under the California Environmental Quality Act and completed a mitigated negative declaration to annex 197 acres along S. Main Street. Knoll said the city received numerous comments from the county of Lake, Sierra Club, Lake County Land Trust and other public entities – primarily county departments – that will be addressed in this process.
Knoll said the Lakeport City Council approved a proposed resolution on Jan. 21 to begin the general plan update process.
He said the Lake Local Agency Formation Commission has a related matter before it regarding a statutorily required update to the city's sphere of influence.
Some of the general plan updates are basic language changes, like removing references to the city's now-dismantled redevelopment agency, Knoll said.
One of the key items Knoll discussed with the commission was the specific plan area designation that covers the City of Lakeport Municipal Sewer District land, which totals more than 700 acres.
CLMSD Director Mark Brannigan told Lake County News that 241 acres of the property is within the city's limits.
Knoll said the specific plan designation covers the city-owned CLMSD parcels and some private properties south of the current sphere of influence, running along Hopland Road.
In 2006, the Lakeport City Council had approved an agreement with Boeger Land Development – the same firm that proposes to develop the Cristallago project near Lakeport – for a golf course and housing development on the land, as Lake County News has reported.
Knoll said that the project called for between 600 and 1,200 homes to be built, along with a golf course, on the land.
“What I really wanted to point out is that language, according to what I am told, is no longer consistent with city policy,” Knoll told the commission.
When the current general plan was being formulated in 2007 to 2008, the Lakeport City Council was negotiating an agreement for the development of the site, he said.
“That project is not apparently going forward,” said Knoll, and the city's intent is to remove from the general plan the language referring to the possibility of a development project on the CLMSD site.
He said the city wants to go back to the idea that the land will be used for providing wastewater treatment, storage and disposal, the reasons for which the land originally was purchased.
With that language regarding the project being removed, “The idea that there is a need to do a specific plan goes away,” said Knoll.
Knoll suggested the specific plan area be redesigned to refer to public and civic use, and that the privately held lands – including a Catholic cemetery – be removed from the city's sphere of influence. He added that keeping the city-owned CLMSD land within the sphere of influence made sense.
The commissioners reached 4-0 consensus – with Vice Chair Tom Gayner absent – to accept Knoll's proposals to remove the specific plan area language relating to the development project, redesignate the CLMSD property for public and civic uses, and drop the privately owned properties from the sphere of influence.
Knoll and the commission also explored the issues of including prime agricultural land in the sphere of influence. Such lands aren't primary areas for annexation, but nonetheless Knoll said the fact that the lands are included had been a source of criticism of the city by the county of Lake.
The city was suggesting a new approach – excluding such lands, including those under Williamson Act contract – from the sphere of influence altogether or adopting a policy that mirrors how the county handles its agricultural zoning in order to be totally consistent, Knoll said.
Knoll said he liked the idea of simply excluding the lands, which he said doesn't preclude a future general plan from reconsidering their inclusion.
Another issue that has to be corrected in the general plan update, Knoll said, is that the city's urban reserve designation was not defined in any way in the current general plan.
Commission Chair Ken Wicks Jr. pointed out that an area of agricultural land along S. Main Street that is used for cattle grazing is a flood plain that includes Manning Creek.
“Nobody in their right mind would build on that land for one good reason, it's soft land,” Wicks noted, adding that the acreage includes wetlands and has been used for agriculture and hunting for many years.
Knoll said local environmental groups had criticized the city for including the Manning Creek area within the city's urban growth area, and he proposed also pulling it from the sphere of influence.
With the land's flood zone and riparian habitat, “It's really an environmentally sensitive area,” said city Planning Services Manager Andrew Britton.
Knoll said there also had been a discussion about making the city's sphere of influence coterminous with the city limits, which he called “ludicrous.”
“That doesn't allow for any kind of growth,” said Commissioner Suzanne Russell.
Knoll said he will bring back to the commission more information and resources on the floodplain and agricultural uses.
The commission is next set to meet on March 12, with Knoll suggesting a special meeting on the general plan process be called in March.
Wicks said he hopes to have more community input as the process continues, noting that will make the process better. “We would like to see the town come together and say, this is what we'd like to do.”
Also on Wednesday, the commission passed a resolution to clarify rules for commercial signage, specifically relating to when a second freestanding sign may be appropriate.
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