LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Tuesday the Lakeport City Council heard the latest developments on the next phase of the city's Downtown Improvement Plan, and agreed to maintain an existing driveway to a city thrift store that the plan proposed to eliminate.

Community Development Director Kevin Ingram and Paul Curren, the contract city engineer, gave the council a status report on where the project is currently and where it's set to go next.

The nearly $2.6 million project's boundaries run along North Main Street, between First and Fourth streets.

Improvements in the plan will include narrowing Main Street by 5 feet, repaving and restriping it; putting in 12-foot-wide sidewalks and new curbs, and new handicap ramps at intersections; installation of new street trees, grates and decorative cement; and limited improvements to the water and sewer infrastructure. The city's commemorative lamp posts and their power supply will be moved a few feet to accommodate the new design.

Ingram said the plans are now at the 60-percent design stage. Originally, the project was to have been much more extensive, but when redevelopment went away several years ago, the project had to be scaled back.

Ingram said city staff have met with upwards of 80 percent of property and business owners along the project corridor, and on Oct. 7 hosted an evening meeting with community members to go over construction phasing and times of day for work.

It's proposed that the work on the project take place at night, six days a week, which Ingram said will allow for completion in a quicker time frame and gives businesses a chance to stay open uninterrupted during the day.

During the earlier phase of the project business owners had complained to the city about interruption to their operations and a drop in business due to access issues.

If the city is to pursue having the work done at night, Ingram said the project's environmental document will need to be amended, a process that staff already has under way.

While the business community has indicated support for the night work, Ingram said there will still be impacts including noise for nearby residents. As such, he said the city is reaching out to neighbors to discuss the plan.

Curren said the project budget includes $1,967,128, or 74.6 percent, that came originally from redevelopment funding, with city water funds providing 10.3 percent, or $254,946, and sewer funds 15 percent, or $370,225, for an approximately project cost of $2,592,298.

Curren said the project remains pretty much on target with its original scope.

Project milestones Curren and Ingram presented to the council include completion of design by Jan. 15, opening bids on Feb. 16, the council's award of the contract on March 1 followed by a notice to start work on March 21.

The timeline also includes a completion of utility and sidewalk work by June 27, in time for a break for the city's busy July 4 holiday. Work would then resume on July 11 and be completed by Aug. 8.

Curren pointed out that six elements must be completed in the 14 weeks between March 21 and June 27. He said one block at a time will be done, which gives two weeks for demolition, forming and pouring of new sidewalks and roadway, and utility work. Overall, it's a “pretty optimistic” schedule, he added.

Curren said the work is proposed to take place from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., which not only met with approval from the business community but has terrific advantages for pricing, safety and other issues. The noise level would be limited after 11 p.m.

He said they are thinking about contingencies to handle any delays that arise, noting that there always are surprises when underground work is done. “We're dealing with old streets and old buildings.”

Curren added that the design team is working to finish this as quickly as they can.

Ingram said next steps include taking the input from the council meeting back to the design team of Crawford and Associates Inc. of Ukiah as it completes the project design. The city also will follow up with businesses in early December and plan another public meeting in the near future.

Ingram told the council that design of new utilities is within the project costs, but the physical installation and construction costs are not. One of the project's original components is the upgrade of an existing water line, but Ingram said that also is outside the project's scope, as is the cost of the street furniture.

The street tree proposed for the plan is the “green vase” zelkova, a deciduous shade tree which has a canopy that will rise above the buildings' general facade line, Ingram said.

Ingram said that tree is disease- and drought-resistant and has a deep rooting structure that won't wreak havoc on the sidewalks. However, it will need pruning due to its average 25- to 30-foot diameter crown being 9 feet away from the buildings.

Councilwoman Mireya Turner asked about the anticipated lifespan of the street pavement. Curren said it's at least 15 years, but more like to be more than 20 years. Turner followed up by asking about the sidewalk, and he said those should last 50 or more years.

“Generally it takes something else to shift the sidewalks,” he said. “The material durability will be a long time.”

Councilman Kenny Parlet asked if the downtown center turn lane will still fit within the project's parameters. Ingram confirmed it will, noting that Main Street is quite wide currently, so there is enough room to accommodate the turn lane despite the removal of 5 feet of street width. He also explained that narrowing the street is a traffic calming technique.

Senior center asks for change in plan to protect thrift shop

One of the key concerns raised over the project came from the Lakeport Senior Center regarding the proposal to get rid of an existing driveway encroachment onto Main Street at 110 N. Main St., next door to the senior center's Meals on Wheels Thrift Shop at 120 N. Main St.

That proposal – meant to make the plan consistent with the Transportation Element of the General Plan – would have left the thrift store with just one entry to its parking lot, from First Street.

Lakeport Senior Center Executive Director Jonathan Crooks said the center has served 600 seniors at its main location on Konocti Avenue this past year and another 130 homebound seniors daily through its Meals on Wheels program.

He said that, in 2008, the senior center was dealing with budget cuts, staff reductions and potential waiting lists for seniors to get their meals each day.

“Faced with an uncertain economic future and government funding, the center started its thrift store,” he said. “The success of the store enabled the senior center to thrive in the worst economic environment it faced since it began.”

With the success of the store, the senior center was able to continue and expand its meal program, Crooks said. The center board later decided to purchase the building its thrift store was operating in to secure the financial future of its meal program.

“Our parking lot is a vital competitive advantage,” and an important deciding when the center purchased the property, he said.

He said the center was told by city officials that the council wouldn't want people driving over the new sidewalk. However, Crooks said the driveway has existed there for 50 years.

“There's no solid justification for removing our existing configuration,” Crooks said.

He told the council that the center thrift store would lose quick and easy access onto Main Street if the plan, as proposed, goes forward. That would be a hindrance and interrupt the flow of the business, which he said is very busy, with multiple cars coming going constantly from its parking lot.

He said customers also have told them that they would shop there if it wasn't easy to get in and out of the parking lot.

Along with Crooks, several center board members and supporters asked the council not to remove the parking lot's Main Street access.

While some of the council members were concerned about safety, Parlet noted, “You cannot protect every person in the world from every contingency every time.” He said he had no problem keeping the parking lot in its current configuration, which he felt was safer.

Senior Center Board Member Doc Starin told the council that the center serves 200 meals a day thanks to the thrift store.

However, “It doesn't really end there,” Starin said.

For the participants in the Meals on Wheels program, the person who delivers their meals may be the only person they see all day, he said. “Sometimes they come to the door in their pajamas.”

Anything that would interfere with the thrift store's customers would impact those Meals on Wheels participants, he said.

The discussion worked its way back around to concerns about nighttime noise, with Curren telling the council staff that there are only five people who live on Main Street above the businesses. Parlet was concerned that the noise would need to be cut down starting at 10 p.m., not 11 p.m.

Ingram said that night work on projects doesn't work in a lot of situations, but it lends itself well to this project. He acknowledged that the situation with the hour between 10 and 11 p.m. will be difficult, and it's likely to be one of the more controversial elements of the plan.

City Manager Margaret Silveira thanked Ingram and Curren for their work, noting the project started well before either of them joined the city.

The council reached consensus to direct staff to allow the senior center thrift store's encroachment to remain in place. Councilwoman Stacey Mattina called the center's Meals on Wheels volunteers “living angels,” adding, “I wouldn't want them to lose the ability to use that parking lot.”

The council then voted unanimously to receive and file the staff report, and have staff forward the information to the consulting engineer.

In other business on Tuesday, the council approved an upgrade to the city's Nixle account, a contract change order for the city's USDA-funded Water and Wastewater Improvement Project and the issuance of a request for proposals for a new bathroom facility at the Library Park Fifth Street boat ramp.

The council also voted unanimously to create a new industrial development authority for the purposes of funding the city's new police department and other future budget transactions, and formed a joint powers authority for the industrial development authority, including appointing the governing body members and staff.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.