LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Planning Commission this week will hold public hearings on several major projects, including a vineyard, a new Dollar General store, a dormitory to house volunteers helping with the wildland fire recovery and a new location for a substance recovery facility.

The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, in the Board of Supervisors' chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

At 9:05 a.m., the commission will hold its second public hearing on the draft environmental impact report prepared for the Wild Diamond Vineyards project.

A previous hearing was held Aug. 11, with public comment to be continued at the Thursday meeting.

The project's draft environmental impact report can be found online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Community_Development/Wild_Diamond_Vineyards_Project_Draft_EIR.htm .

Wild Diamond Vineyards LLC is seeking major use and grading permits, and a lot line adjustment to build the project at 15087, 15591, 15663 and 158078 Spruce Grove Road in Middletown, just north of the community of Hidden Valley Lake. The county said the company has had existing vineyard use on 41 acres of the site for many years.

According to county documents, the project proposes to add 80 acres of vineyard, for a total vineyard footprint of 148 acres.

Other aspects of the project would include a 17,850-square foot, two-building winery that would produce up to 52,800 cases of wine per year; an 11,340-square-foot tasting room with commercial kitchen and retail sales; and self-guided interpretive center. Wild Diamond Vineyards LLC also wants to hold up to 35 special events per year.

The project has raised multiple concerns from community members, from water supply and the sufficiency of testing on the area's hydrology and the ability to sustain the project, to biological resources such as plants, geology, vineyard expansion, allegations of secrecy on the part of the company proposing the project, noise, traffic on Spruce Grove Road, air quality and numerous other general impacts on the community.

At the same time, the Sierra Club Lake Group said in a letter earlier this month that, “After careful review of the EIR, the Sierra Club Lake Group has concluded that few if any of the sometimes dramatically expressed concerns are warranted, and that all potentially negative impacts can be mitigated to a level that will allow this fundamentally beneficial project to move forward.”

One significant concern raised at the Aug. 11 came from Steve Zalusky, principal biologist for the locally based Northwest Biosurvey, who had been subcontracted to complete a biological resource assessment for the project.

Zalusky – who emphasized he didn't have an opinion on the project – was concerned about how his work was used and, in this case, misrepresented. That included having his report altered to support a conclusion that the project would not have a significant impact.

He told Lake County News that he expects to be at Thursday's meeting, but may not have any additional comments.

In other business on Thursday, at 9:30 a.m. the commission will hold a public hearing on a major use permit sought by Middletown Central Park Association to demolish a 2,400-square-foot building at 15299 Central Park Road and replace it with a 4,500-square-foot structure to be used as a dormitory for Hope Crisis Network volunteers.

The nonprofit organization intends to bring in volunteers from all around the United States to assist with rebuilding homes in the Valley fire area.

At 9:40 a.m., the commission will hold a public hearing to consider Hilltop Recovery Services' application for a major use permit to operate a community care facility at 14720 Catholic Church Road in Clearlake Oaks.

The organization's previous facility on Socrates Mine Road in Middletown was destroyed in the Valley fire last fall.

At 10 a.m., a public hearing on the design review permit for Cross Development's major use permit application to build a new Dollar General store in Middletown will be held.

The 9,100-square-foot store is to be built at 20900 Highway 29.

The commission had turned down the project earlier this year, but Cross Development won its appeal before the Board of Supervisors in a 3-2 vote last month.

That decision cleared the way for Cross Development to move ahead on the store, which would be the third in the county. Two Dollar General stores were opened in Clearlake Oaks and Nice in 2015.

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.