LAKEPORT – The Lakeport City Council will consider raising dog licensing fees in the city and look at an affordable housing project at its meeting this Tuesday.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

Interim City Manager Kevin Burke, who also is the city's police chief, is presenting the dog license fee matter to the council.

This summer, Lakeport Police took over administration of animal control services in the city after the city decided not to renew its contract with Lake County Animal Care and Control, as Lake County News has reported.

Dropping the $71,000-per-year contract was intended as a cost-saving measure, but the department's budget has only a small amount to devote to the services. As a result, the department is seeking other avenues of funding, and raising dog licenses is one option.

Burke's report to the council states that the county previously collected licensing fees totaling about $1,500 per year. He notes that Lakeport's fees – $3 for altered dogs and $10 for unaltered dogs – is considerably lower than dog owners pay in the rest of the county and in Clearlake, where $10 for an altered dog and $50 for an unaltered one is the norm.

He added that approximately 70 percent of current Lakeport licensees have altered dogs.

“If the city were to make its fees consistent with other jurisdictions in Lake County, revenue would increase in order to help run our animal control program if we eventually re-enter into a contract with Lake County Animal Control,” he writes. “If the fee remains the same, the revenue from licensing will remain approximately $1,500 per year, which will go toward running the program.

On Tuesday the council also is expected to reconsider paying a $7,176 balance due to the Lake County Animal Care and Control for a period of time in which the city had inadvertently underpaid the county. That bill was pulled from the warrants list by the council at its Oct. 7 and held over.

During the meeting the council members – also sitting as directors of the Lakeport Redevelopment Agency – will receive a proposal from the nonprofit Clearwater Homes, which is seeking the city's and agency's financial participation in the Avalon Co-Housing Project.

Cohousing, a concept which originated in Denmark, was brought to the US in the 1980s, according to the Cohousing Association of the United States. Such communities – which can be found around the country – are usually clusters of attached single-family dwellings designed around a pedestrian street or courtyard. Cohousing developments can be found in Cotati, Davis, Pleasant Hill, Oakland and Berkeley.

A report from Redevelopment Director Richard Knoll explains that the agency has been meeting with Bruce Shimizu of Clearwater Homes about building the affordable housing project on Berry Street. Knoll reported that Shimizu first approached the city with the proposal earlier this year.

He noted that Clearwater Homes already has purchased the 2.6-acre site for $382,598. Shimizu is proposing the Lakeport Redevelopment Agency assist with more than $970,000 to finish paying off the site acquisition, and also to fund soil testing, preliminary design and construction costs, tentative map preparation, improvement plan preparation, landscaping plans, financial planning and building consultants, property taxes, project administration and investor equity expenses.

The total budget for the 18-unit co-housing project would be $4.5 million, of which $1.9 million is proposed to come from the agency, Knoll reported.

The council also will consider adding an early retirement incentive – or “golden handshake” – to the city's current contract with CalPERS; discuss modernizing the city's policy for purchasing goods and services; look at adopting a resolution to authorize Utilities Superintendent Matthew Johnson to sign an application, funding agreement and amendments for funding under the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund; and adopt a resolution to designate the City Hall parking lot as a two-hour maximum parking area.

They'll also take up two applications, one for the Clear Lake High School annual fall homecoming parade down Main Street on Friday, Oct. 24, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., and another for Lakeport Elementary's Halloween Parade on Main Street on Friday, Oct. 31, from noon to 1:15 p.m.

A closed session is planned to discuss one case of anticipated litigation.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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