LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors is set to hold a special meeting this week to discuss an updated findings of fact document related to the appeal of a Texas developer seeking to build a new Dollar General in Middletown.
The meeting will take place beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 31, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
At its meeting on May 23, the board had been expected to approve the findings of fact for the appeal of Texas-based Cross Development, which had appealed the Lake County Planning Commission’s January denial of its design review permit for a store at 20900 Highway 29, as Lake County News has reported.
The board had granted that appeal in a 3-2 vote – with Supervisor Rob Brown and Supervisor Jim Steele voting no – at its April 18 meeting.
However, at the May 23 meeting, Supervisor Tina Scott decided that she could not agree with the findings of fact drafted by County Counsel Anita Grant.
Specifically, Scott said she could not agree with the document’s statement that the store plan conforms with community design criteria, in particular, the Middletown Area Plan.
The board then voted to deny Cross Development’s appeal 3-2, with Scott joining Brown and Steele in opposing the appeal.
The county zoning ordinance requires that the board approve a findings of fact document within 45 days of making a decision on an appeal. Grant said the deadline is June 2.
Because no regular meetings were scheduled for this week, the board set the special meeting for Wednesday.
Grant’s updated draft of the findings of fact, which can be seen below, said the board now finds “based upon substantial evidence in the record of these proceedings” that the project is not consistent with all of the mandatory findings for the approval of the design review.
It cites the failure to conform to “any applicable community design manual criteria,” referring specifically to the Middletown Area Plan.
The document acknowledges that Community Development Department staff determined that the project would meet all of the Middletown Area Plan’s criteria if recommended mitigation measures were incorporated.
“However, testimony from numerous members of the public gave voice to concerns that the Project was not in conformance with said community design criteria. There was substantial evidence presented to this Board that the Project does not meet the spirit and intent of the Middletown Area Plan,” the document states.
The findings then go on to specifically point to the proposed 9,100-square-foot store’s design – which includes large steel sections – and its color as being incompatible with the Middletown Area Plan.
The document also states that the project “does not possess a village scale and character sensitive to the scale and livability of the adjacent residential areas as provided in the Middletown Area Plan,” and that it also “does not reinforce Middletown’s small town character, but rather, detracts from it.”
Other issues with the building’s design cited by the findings document include the store consisting primarily of box elements. That’s contrary to the Middletown Area Plan’s requirements that buildings be designed to maintain and reinforce the town’s unique scale and character by avoiding designs consisting largely of boxes with applied design elements.
“As designed, the building fails to promote a rural atmosphere as required by the Middletown Area Plan and detracts from the Middletown area as a whole,” the document states.
Grant’s draft findings document also notes that the board’s decision to deny the appeal “shall not disturb” the Lake County Planning Commission’s January decision to not issue a mitigated negative declaration because the project didn’t meet the design review requirements.
It’s expected on Wednesday that county officials will elaborate on whether or not the store plan can move forward if the project is designed or if the appeal denial will stop it altogether.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
053117 Board of Supervisors - Cross Development findings of fact by LakeCoNews on Scribd
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