LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday night conducted a brief meeting with two main items of business, relating to zoning and bond counsel matters, ultimately approving both.
Special Projects Coordinator Richard Knoll took to the council a proposed ordinance to amend the prezoning map for the South Main Street and Soda Bay Road area of the Lakeport Sphere of Influence.
Knoll said the ordinance – which the council held the first reading of and introduced at its April 7 meeting – was the culmination of a process than began in January when the council approved a focused general plan update.
Subsequently, the Lakeport Planning Commission held a number of public meetings and workshops as part of the process, and on Feb. 17 the council approved a resolution adopting the addendum to the general plan environmental impact report, along with several general plan amendments, Knoll said.
Knoll said the resolution the city approved reduced the city's sphere of influence – removing some agricultural land – and modified general plan policies and actions to address land use, conservation, infrastructure, utilities and growth. It also amended the general plan land use map.
Because of those changes, Knoll said the Lakeport Planning Commission recommended followup action by the council in order to be consistent with the city's general plan.
The goal, Knoll explained, was to adopt prezoning that would be consistent with the general plan land use map as well as with county zoning in the S. Main Street and Soda Bay Road area. That's an area the city ultimately wants to annex.
“California law permits cities to prezone land outside of city limits within spheres of influence, in the same way that they would approve regular zoning within the city limits,” said Knoll, explaining that such prezoning is done before a city formally annexes land.
Another benefit to the city in prezoning, he said, is that it allows the city to be the lead agency on the California Environmental Quality Act review for an annexation project. Otherwise, the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, would be the lead agency.
“A key thing about prezoning is that as far as the city is concerned, prezoning doesn't affect permissible land use or other land use regulations,” said Knoll, adding, “That activity still rests with the county.”
During the brief public hearing that followed Knoll's presentation, Lakeport resident Suzanne Lyons, pointing to the areas of commercial and industrial zoning in the ordinance maps, said some people think the city already has too much underutilized commercial property.
Councilwoman Stacey Mattina asked how much of the land is vacant. Knoll didn't have a number off the top of his head, but said, “There is some land that is vacant, not a tremendous amount.”
He said there is also the potential for redevelopment of the land in this area. At some point the area will be provided with a full range of urban services, including a municipal water system. That could be the event that spurs some additional land development.
Knoll added that all of that land currently is available to development.
Mattina moved to adopt the ordinance, which the council approved 5-0.
In other business on Tuesday, the council voted unanimously to approve an agreement with the Weist Law Firm – a firm the city has used in the past – to serve as bond counsel to the city for financing with USDA Rural Development.
The city is seeking that funding to finance the new Lakeport Police Department headquarters at 2025 S. Main St., according to Finance Director Dan Buffalo.
Buffalo said using bond counsel when issuing debt is a best practice. He said bond counsel advises the city to ensure that it is in compliance with federal, state and local laws.
“It's a specialized service and it's one that's required to have a retainer for this project through the USDA application,” he said.
Mattina asked if such services were ever done in-house at the city. Buffalo said no.
“It's a very specialized type of law,” said City Attorney David Ruderman, who added that it requires a particular type of errors and omissions insurance that really only specialized practitioners have.
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Lakeport City Council approves prezoning ordinance, bond counsel agreement
- Elizabeth Larson
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