LAKEPORT – A plan to build an 11-acre water ski lake near Middletown received the Planning Commission's approval following a lengthy Thursday meeting in which neighbors voiced protests based on concerns about noise, seismic activity and, most especially, water.
Kurt Steil and Gary Johnson are proposing the lake as part of Bonavita Estates, a project they had taken to the Planning Commission in 2006.
Originally, Steil and Johnson proposed 22 parcels on two parcels amounting to 534 acres at 16756 and 17320 Butts Canyon Road. The subdivision in its current form at the same location includes five parcels, two of them five acres, and the rest 51, 83 and 389 acres, on land zoned mostly rural residential, according to Community Development Department documents.
The location of the 11-surface-acre, 50-acre-foot lake – which will be 2,100 feet long and 218 feet wide – also has been moved to prevent its interfering with six acres of nearby wetlands. The lake would be sourced from a well, and would need to be almost entirely refilled each summer due to evaporation.
“This has been significantly changed and has been processed as an entirely new application,” said Community Development Director Rick Coel.
Melissa Floyd, a county planning consultant, said the parcels will be served by individual wells and septic systems.
In 2006, the Planning Commission had voted unanimously to order the developers to do a focused environmental impact report on the project.
Floyd said mitigations are in place for issues such as air quality, noise, biological and cultural resources, utility and traffic impacts. The greatest potential for noise will arise from construction and boats on the ski lake.
The plans call for only one boat running on the lake at a time, with small islands at both ends in place to help diffuse the waves.
Before a grading permit is issued, Steil and Johnson must do a geological study, said Floyd. A groundwater study was completed in 2005 for the previous proposal. They also completed a cultural resources survey and found no sites on the land, but because the area has a high possibility of cultural resources an archaeologist will need to be on site during excavation.
To build the gated community, part of Butts Canyon Road will need to be widened, and Floyd said the project is requesting a deviation to build a 1,000-foot-long road.
Commissioners outlined their own concerns during the meeting. Cliff Swetnam said he had asked the developers about 22 lots called for in the previous proposal, and was told they needed more lots to make the project financially feasible. Now, however, the lake is bigger and there are fewer lots.
“It seems to me this screams out for future development,” said Swetnam.
The area is outside of Middletown's urban growth boundaries, with no sewer or water. “I have a concern that this is sort of a back-door move to put a subdivision where we never intended to have one,” said Swetnam.
Commissioner Clelia Baur questioned who was supposed to be responsible for the lake and its dam in the future. Swetnam asked about earthquakes in the seismically active area and possible impacts on the dam. Floyd said that would be addressed through engineering.
Mary Jane Fagalde, the county's former Community Development director, represented Steil and Johnson at the hearing.
She explained that the former project needed more lots to make it feasible due to the larger amount of infrastructure involved. When the project was downsized costs also went down.
Fagalde said the lake wouldn't be used all day every day. She noted South Lake Fire Protection District's support due to the availability of water for fire suppression and said the lake would provide a habitat area for migratory wildlife.
She said sound would be mitigated by limiting usage to one boat running on the lake at a time at no more than 36 miles per hour, with landscaping and a lake berm to insulate the noise. The nearest residential property line is 1,500 feet from the lake.
Fagalde's Power Point presentation referenced several other ski lake projects in Northern California, including Lakeview in Hopland, Vineyard Lake in Sebastopol, Shortline Lake in Elk Grove and Villa Lagos in Red Bluff.
Matt O'Connor, who completed the project's hydrological study, said most of his work was based on the previous 2005 survey. He quoted a 1955 US Geological Survey report on the area's hydrology which he said is still one of the best reports on the subject.
Project engineer Scott DeLeon explained that the site has high clay content, and when the land is excavated for the lake the clay will be held aside and then used to line the lake's bottom. “It's a fairly common practice.”
Neighbors raises issues about noise, resources
Close to 40 people attended the hearing's morning session, many of them neighbors who gave several hours of public testimony relating to everything from sound, earthquake concerns and water.
Retired Planning Commissioner Frieda Camotta, who had been on the commission when the previous project was considered in 2006, led off the public comment.
Camotta said she had contacted planning departments in Tehama and San Diego counties, where such ski lakes have been built. She said they had told her that they had determined environmental impact reports were necessary to address important issues relating to the lake-building proposals.
Don Elder, who lives across from the project site, said he was suspicious of the plans. “I suspect that there's other plans down the road and it's not going to benefit our community.”
Peter Behn told the commission, “This is a watershed moment, pardon the pun, for Long Valley.”
He said if Steil and Johnson were sincere about not developing more of the area more densely, they could prove it by entering into a conservation easement to limit development on the land beyond the current proposal.
Behn said he suggests the developers will come back and say they need to build more homes and possibly commercial properties or else they'll go bankrupt.
Bev Hilger gave the commission a picture that had been taken of the lake site completely under water in the 1990s during a flood. Hilger was concerned about many water issues beyond the flood plain, including the enormous amount of water she said would be necessary during construction because of the serpentine soil.
She quoted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's June declaration of a drought, and said she found it “absolutely irresponsible” to go forward with such a water-intensive project considering the state's water issues and the well problems neighbors are suffering.
Hilger and husband, Les, who own a water truck business, submitted to the commission a letter outlining their concerns, which they and 16 neighbors signed.
Loconomi Road resident Kelly Risso asked the commission to require an environmental impact report, faulting some of the studies that have been done. She said the botanical study had missed important plants and that a traffic study was needed.
Risso asked who would foot the bill if the developers decide to sell or go bankrupt, and she suggested a security bond to restore the area in the case the developers abandoned the project. Further, she asked if invasive mussel inspection stickers would be required and pointed to the Callayomi fault's potential for a 6.5 magnitude earthquake.
Jack Lair, who said he had done due diligence on the property for a prospective purchase five years ago, said the property has limited uses due to its deep clay bases. The former owner planted a vineyard there which Lair said didn't do very well, and it's mostly been used for running cattle.
Fletcher Thornton, who owns the Vintage Faire property, said he understands the neighbors' concerns. “Unfortunately, they don't own it.”
Thornton said rural residential zoning would allow for five-acre parcels; he said he'd rather see five than the allowable 85. He added that while noise may be an issue, he didn't believe water was.
Susanne La Faver said she was concerned about the area's character and the prior rights of current residents.
“I can't believe someone would say water is not an issue,” La Faver said, responding to Thornton's comment. She said neighbors in the area are trucking water in to their homes, and suggested there are other areas in the county for recreational skiing.
Commission members asked if anyone in the audience was having well problems, and Bill Tobin came forward. Tobin, who lives on nearby Black Oak Hill Drive, said he drilled a new well this year and went 500 feet deep, and still can't find the water he needs.
Joanne Towl, another Loconomi Road resident, works for the Marin-Sonoma Vector Control District and was concerned about how the developers will plan for mosquitoes and preventing invasive aquatic plants.
Responding to comments from neighbors, Fagalde said the developers are willing to put the wetland area into a conservation easement, but said to ask them to put the entire property under such an easement “seems excessive.”
If noise were to become a problem, she said lake operations would be shut down until it was addressed. She added that as it stands now the owners could grow crops such as hay on the land and the machinery and pumps needed for that use would be allowed with no use permit.
Commissioner Gary Briggs, reacting to neighbors' concerns about special events, suggested putting a condition into the permit to prevent them. Fagalde said that would take away a right that other property owners have and be excessive “and even discriminatory.”
Because of testimony about failing wells and water supply questions, O'Connor told the commission that the lake site sits on a big alluvial aquifer. “There appears to be a lot of water in there.”
Steil, who said he grew up water skiing on Clear Lake, told the commission he and Johnson have no intention of holding special events, and that the idea had been suggested by former planner Penelope Shibley.
A developer, investor and real estate agent, Steil said he bought the property as an investment and for development, and isn't in a position to place a lot of the land into a conservation easement. However, the Army Corps of Engineers has contacted him about putting a large portion of the land that has wetlands and vernal pools in a and bank.
He emphasized to the commission that he and Johnson don't have a hidden agenda about making the land into a major development.
Baur asked if Steil is willing to do an environmental impact report. “I'm not interested in doing one, no,” Steil responded.
Although a focused environmental impact report was proposed in 2006 for the previous development, Steil said he believes their changes to the project – plus biological, botanical and hydrological studies – have answered all the questions.
Johnson added that they spent a lot of time and money to modify the lake and subdivision have a good fit in the community and address potential impacts. “We don't think there's a justification for an EIR.”
He said the ski lake project has been carefully planned and is a “lifelong dream” for he and Steil, who want a place to come and recreate with their family “and live the Lake County lifestyle.”
Peggy Walker, who moved from San Jose, said her dream was to live in a quiet valley with cows and Canadian geese flying overhead. “My dream will die and their dream will leave.”
Commission adds limits to project
As the commission deliberated, Swetnam said most of the doubts he began the day with were alleviated, including concerns about water supply. However, he warned that any attempt at future development on the property would be met with a “jaundiced eye.”
Coel said much of the water in the lake will percolate back into the ground. The area's 1,500 acre feet of groundwater recharge annually, which is aided by 35 inches of rain each year, makes the water usage and recharge “pretty lopsided.”
The commission added several conditions to the project, including prohibiting building in a wetland area, a guarantee that the lake would be deconstructed if not used for two years, requiring the well filling the lake to have an automatic shutoff valve and limiting the lake's hours of operation from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Baur told neighbors she was sympathetic to their concerns about potential noise and special events, but said it's unrealistic for anyone to assume that vacant land next to their property always will go unused.
Her larger concerns focused on hydrology, despite the thorough report, which she said was based on incomplete data. She said she would like to see a report with more data about the aquifer completed by a third party, and added that she was concerned about the botanical survey being completed when some species are dormant.
Commissioner Monica Rosenthal suggested additional hydrological studies were needed not just for the project area but for the entire county.
In five separate motions, the commission voted 3-1 – with Baur voting no and Commissioner Gil Schoux absent – to approve a mitigated negative declaration, a use permit, tentative merger resubdivision map, a deviation and deferred improvement agreement.
Coel said building the project can't begin until next April 15, as the construction season is about to end.
On Friday Hilger said she and other neighbors don't plan to appeal because they have no newer, stronger arguments to take to the Board of Supervisors.
Hilger, who said her own well is running low, called the project “a horrific waste” of water.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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