MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A special town hall meeting in Middletown gave community members the chance to weigh in on where to build a dormitory building to house volunteers who will build homes for survivors of last year's wildland fires.
Board of Supervisors Chair Rob Brown hosted the hourlong meeting at the Middletown Senior Center on Monday evening, with more than 70 people in attendance.
Hope City, a ministry of the Hope Crisis Response Network, plans to build 140 houses over the next several years for south county residents whose homes burned last year in the Valley fire. About a dozen of those fire survivors were at the Monday meeting.
According to Brown, half of those homes will be built for people who lost their insurance a month before the fire due to the Rocky fire.
The organization said it needs to house up to 60 volunteers at a time, with volunteers paying their own way to come from across the United States and Canada to work for a week at a time on the rebuilding effort.
The 5,000-square-foot dormitory will cost an estimated $260,000 to build, with $200,000 of that raised so far by Hope City, Brown said. The organization's volunteers also will build the dorm structure.
Brown updated the Middletown Area Town Hall, or MATH, in March about the project, which was discussed several times by the Board of Supervisors.
In April the supervisors unanimously approved a resolution to build the dormitory – and no other buildings – on a small portion of the 107-acre Trailside Park outside of Middletown, as Lake County News has reported.
However, concerns raised by community members led to Brown coming back to hold the town hall and gather additional input.
Kevin Cox, founder and chief executive officer of the Hope Crisis Response Network, was on hand to explain the organization's goals and what they're seeking.
“Everything that we've always done has been a gift,” he said, and they've considered that a gift from God.
Not only are they planning to build homes for Valley fire survivors, but the first application for a family left homeless by the Rocky fire was just approved, he said.
The Hope Crisis Response Network has extensive knowledge on disasters and has written a number of key manuals on the subject, Cox said.
Locally, the organization is a partner with Team Lake County and has been working in the county since Sept. 15, he said.
So far, they have completed one home and have five others in process, including on one Wardlaw where the first floor is going up and another project where they're about to pour the foundation, according to Cox.
“We have enough resources to build approximately 45 homes right now,” he said. It was noted during the meeting that those funds are coming from private resources.
The problem, said Cox, is that they don't have enough room to house the volunteers, as it's hard to find accommodations in the community. In the case of the Rocky fire home rebuild, Cox would explain later that the volunteers were having to camp at the site.
Cox said that originally they had a site for the building at the Middletown Bible Church. However, some of the donors putting up the funds didn't think it was right to give the building to the church afterward.
“We want to listen to them and we want to listen to you,” he said.
Volunteers spend their money to get to Lake County, and also spend money in the community where they're staying. They need a place close by the building sites to stay, Cox said, adding that the program is successful because the organization takes good care of its volunteers.
The dormitory plan calls for room for 60 beds, 12 showers and a full, working kitchen, Cox said.
Brown emphasized that no county money is being spent, and all of Hope City's donations will be spent locally, with the organization having an agreement to purchase supplies at Kelseyville Lumber.
He showed a sketch of the metal dormitory building, which he had suggested be designed to look like a barn in order to fit in with the community.
Brown had, himself, offered to donate property on Bottle Rock Road for the building, but because it was on private property, that plan – and other offers of private land – didn't meet with the requirements of donors.
A reason for suggesting the building be placed at Trailside Park, Brown said, is because after Hope City is done with the building and turns it back over to the county, it could be used for a camp facility for 4-H or other youth organizations like the Boy Scouts.
The county purchased the property with state park bond money so it had some restrictions. Kati Galvani – the county's deputy Public Services director who also was on hand for the meeting – made some calls, Brown said, and the state approved placing the building at the park.
He said state officials approved the proposal because of the Valley fire disaster and the tremendous need to build the new homes.
“We've got to do everything we can to get these people back into homes,” he said.
Brown said that once the county takes possession of the building, the county could enter into a memorandum of understanding with the University of California Cooperative Extension, which runs 4-H, to oversee the use of the building, which also can be rented out for other events.
He said that the best spot for the building – for purposes of security, visibility, and easy ingress/egress – seemed to be the side of the park on Highway 175. However, he said it also could be placed on the Dry Creek side.
The other extreme, Brown said, is to tell the organization that they don't want the building. However, he added, “We want them here.”
Supervisor Jim Comstock echoed Brown's concerns about getting people back into homes. “We want to see everybody come back that can,” he said. “We are wanting to rebuild our community.”
Cox reported during the meeting that Hope City lost all of its volunteers for May because they couldn't guarantee housing. He said they need to find a solution because home projects are now getting pushed back.
Most of those who spoke at the meeting confirmed support for the building but brought up concerns about the park site ranging from traffic to the location of the building close to their homes, allowable uses at the site, the fact the site is in a flood zone, the precedent of putting a building at the park, septic and water well needs, and alternative sites – many, again, being held privately.
Brown said they remain open to alternative sites, with at least three acres needed for the Hope City dormitory but up to 10 for a site that could be used for a youth camp facility later.
While many of the alternative sites brought up at the meeting were disqualified for various reasons, there were several locations suggested that may prove workable.
One location, suggested by MATH Vice Chair Claude Brown, is the former site of the US Coast Guard LORAN station, located in a remote area off of Grange Road.
The site was decommissioned in May 2010. The property is 1,200 acres and has a 10,000 square foot building where operations were headquartered.
In October 2013, federal officials dismantled the station's 625-foot-tall tower, which was recycled, the Coast Guard told Lake County News. The Coast Guard also has intended to sell the property, which at one time had been slated to be transferred to the county.
Brown said he would contact Congressman Mike Thompson's office to find out about the LORAN property availability.
Another possibility is the county's sewer pond and spray fields property, which consists of several hundred acres off of Highway 175, and the Middletown Central Park Association's property.
Community member Jody Galvan asked about the size of Trailside Park. When someone responded with 107 acres, she asked why the community couldn't share three acres of it for a great project.
Cox said Hope City even had an offer to build the dormitory on the Middletown Rancheria, but again the issue came down to the donors not wanting the building to go to a private entity or business interests.
Brown said that by the Thursday MATH meeting he expected to have an answer on whether the sewer ponds site would work. He may not have an answer on the LORAN facility by that point.
Getting the location nailed down will allow Hope City to move forward with the project's architectural drawings, which Cox said are on hold as they need to be crafted for a specific property.
Once they've settled on a site, Cox said the architect can have the plans done in three days, and the goal is that the dormitory will be built within 60 days, he said.
At the end of the meeting, Comstock presented Cox with a check for $500 sent by a women's group in Merced County.
Brown told Lake County News after the meeting that he plans to begin following up on Tuesday on the Middletown Central Park property, the sewer ponds facility, the Dry Creek side of the Trailside Park as well as the LORAN site.
He invited anyone with ideas or concerns about the project to contact him at 707-349-2628.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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