The Clearlake City Council and Clearlake Planning Commission will meet beginning at 6 p.m. to discuss the project. The meeting will take place at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
Late last week, Natalie Antus of the Clearlake Planning Department reported that a proposed final environmental impact report for Provinsalia was completed and available for review at Clearlake City Hall.
The project, which would be located along an area of Cache Creek off of Dam Road that is zoned for “Resource Protection,” calls for 720 dwelling units on 135 acres. The remaining 157 acres are proposed to contain recreational opportunities, including an 80-acre, nine-whole golf course, according to city documents. It's being proposed by Cache Creek LLC, based in Houston, Texas.
A report to the council and commission from City Manager Dale Neiman asks the to provide “non-binding comments to the staff and applicant” at the Tuesday meeting. Public comment also will be allowed.
“The reason for providing the comments is applicant and staff will be spending a significant amount of time processing the project and the comments would provide general direction to the staff and applicant,” Neiman's report states.
The meeting, Neiman said, will include a presentation by the project's applicant.
“If approved, the project would provide a more balanced distribution of lower to higher income residents in the community,” Neiman's report states. “The negative aspects would be impacts to the environment in part including the loss of native oaks, open space, and potential water quality impacts on Cache Creek.”
Community members who have commented on the project thus far see many more negatives than just those Neiman listed. Comments so far have included issues with 50 acres of lost oak woodland, traffic and school impacts, possible archaeological resources and concerns about the financial viability of another golf course in the county.
A copy of the 213-page environmental impact report, obtained by Lake County News, devotes approximately 164 pages to responding to concerns raised in 17 letters submitted by community members and groups responding to the project. Another 33 pages are devoted to corrections and revisions that arose from the draft environmental report completed last year.
Among the letters, county Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger noted that the needed improvements to the wastewater collection system that the project would require are not identified as “significant and unavoidable impacts.” He notes that they should be, depending on how the project applicant addresses them.
Dellinger also pointed out that wastewater collection mitigation measure aren't fully addressed. He estimated that needed capital improvements could cost more than $13 million.
John Benoit, executive officer of the Local Agency Formation Commission, also wrote a letter on the project in which he asked for, among other things, a plan for mitigating wildfire hazards and a fiscal analysis of the project's impact on city services, existing residents and the water district, as well as water availability.
The report notes that Benoit's request about the fiscal analysis is outside of the scope of the environmental impact report and “not appropriate” for inclusion in the environmental impact report.
Janet Cobb, president of the California Oak Foundation, said her group objected to approving the project and adopting its environmental impact report until its biological and air quality deficiencies are corrected. Cobb wrote that the project fails to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act's standards for oak woodlands biological and air quality mitigation standards.
In relation to the fact that the applicant is proposing to pull out 50 acres of oak woodland and replant new trees elsewhere, Cobb wrote, “The contention that planting oaks will 'restore' 60 ares of functional oak woodland habitat in the midst of a residential and golf course project is ludicrous.” The report responds that planting new oaks is meant to “replace” not “restore” the oaks.
Attorney Robert Riggs, who lives on Clearlake's southwest edge, proposes that leaving the golf course out of the proposal would help lessen some of the project's negative impacts. “In my view, the projected golf course is an element of the Project that does not necessarily add to its financial viability, but that definitely adds to the negative impacts of the Project on the environment.”
He points to five existing golf courses in the county, two of which have had financial problems and insolvency in the past five years. Instead, he suggests the golf course be used for open space.
Responding to Riggs' comments, the report states, “An alternative for the proposed project with no golf course was considered but rejected because it did not meet the project applicant's objective of providing the new residents of the Provinsalia community a golf course recreational amenity within the Specific Plan area.” Additionally, the report notes that financial concerns like a golf course's financial feasibility aren't considered significant effects on the environment in an environmental impact report.
Dr. Louise Nan, superintendent of schools for Konocti Unified School District, wrote to advise that the school district is concerned about traffic and safety for students, as well as impacts on school facilities and the need for a large project developer to provide a suitable school site. The report notes that Nan's comments didn't necessitate changes to the report's contents.
Hard copies of the report may be viewed at City Hall; copies of the report on CD may be purchased for $3 each.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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