The commission's wasn't planning any action relating to the golf course and housing development plan, to be located two and a half miles north of Lakeport along Highway 29.
Rather, as Community Development Director Rick Coel explained, the purpose of the two-hour hearing was to get more public comment on Cristallago's massive draft environmental impact report.
“Today's meeting is really not to get into the issues of the rezone and the general plan of development,” he said.
Matt Boeger and Mark Mitchell, the men behind the project, came to listen to the hearing.
Neither man spoke before the commission, but instead were represented by Jim Burns, who also had made a presentation to the Lakeport City Council on the project's current form last month.
Referring to a Lake County News headline from earlier this week in which Cristallago was referred to as one of the “big three” local developments, Burns said they weren't there to ask for a bailout, but were instead were there to help bail the county out of hard economic times. They'll do that, he said, by bringing in jobs and revenue for local businesses and agencies.
A real estate study done several years ago looked at the kinds of projects that would be good for the county, and that helped inform Cristallago, which resembles some of that report's proposals, said Burns.
Burns' half-hour presentation went over the parameters of the development, which would have 650 single-family homes, 325 resort units, an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, spa, access to the lake, fine dining and more built over 862 acres. That includes 576 acres of open space.
He presented a video showing golf great Jack Nicklaus visiting the site and assessing its potential.
Nicklaus called the land “a wonderful piece of property.”
“You have a golf course,” he said, noting the views and unique characteristics of the land.
The video presentation painted a picture of future homeowners and resort visitors being able to fish in the morning, golf in the afternoon, open a bottle of locally grown wine in the evening, and enjoy nearby fine dining. For entertainment, the video said it would be just a short drive to a local casino or to Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa for a show, or a trip into Lakeport or other neighboring communities to shop.
Burns said the project's goal is to promote Lake County as a unique resort destination, be able to pay its own way and be financially beneficial to the community. He added that Boeger and Mitchell have taken care to protect the land as much as possible.
One of the important points of the plan includes using reclaimed wastewater to water the 18-hole golf course.
At the opening of the public hearing, Bill Smith, a member of the Northern California Power Agency's geothermal staff, addressed the golf course's projected use of wastewater. He questioned the availability of that wastewater in light of the county's agreements with the agency to support Basin 2000, which takes effluent from around the county and sends it to the agency's operations at The Geysers, where the water is injected into the geothermal steamfields.
Smith was concerned that the golf course might cut into the water needed for the geothermal usage.
He said the draft environmental impact report (EIR) deals with the potential availability of wastewater in dry and wet years based on assumptions that have been thrown out of whack. “Our most recent year is actually more severe, more dry than the dry year that is used in evaluating the availability of the water,” he said.
The bottom line, said Smith was the EIR has to have up-to-date numbers for water assessment and must give an assurance that the county will continue to fulfill its responsibility to keep wastewater flowing into the pipeline, which is critical to the agency's operations at The Geysers.
He said they were only voicing their concern that there will be times when there isn't surplus wastewater, and so a backup plan for watering the golf course must be created.
Sierra Club Lake Group Chair Victoria Brandon said she took exception to a comment Burns made during his presentation about many agencies being involved with managing Clear Lake but no one actually being in charge.
She then turned to the EIR, pointing to land use, sound and traffic issues. The document also needed updates since the new county general plan has been accepted, said Brandon. That plan has tighter restrictions on ridgeline development that should affect Cristallago, which she said has “a considerable amount” of development planned in such areas.
The EIR's consultants also had concluded that the project wouldn't have a significant noise impact. That might be true for an area that's already urban, but for a very rural area Brandon argued that it's simply not an accurate portrayal.
She further suggested a more thorough traffic study was needed, since the project – estimated to generate 11,000 trips a day – would affect Highway 29 and Lakeport, and warned that the treatment plant needed to make lake water drinkable was extremely expensive and shouldn't be placed on the shoulders of current water system ratepayers.
Brandon also cited AB 32 and its requirements for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The plan needs to look at that closely, she said, pointing to the potential removal of 94 acres of oak woodland. Rather than a golf course, she suggested “low impact recreation” like hiking and biking to draw on Lake County's unique beauty.
Lake County Sanitation District Administrator Mark Dellinger said he was disappointed that the EIR didn't have continuity between identifying issues and possible mitigations.
The sanitation district currently has a connection moratorium in County Service Area 21, where Cristallago would be located. A group of developers is trying to get financing to do a water plant there.
He said of Cristallago, “Projects like this can't get forward without those capacity improvements being made.”
Dellinger said they have to make sure that the wastewater capacity they're contractually obligated to provide to NCPA for The Geysers is met. In the meantime, if the golf course is built first a temporary water source will have to be determined. The county also will need to update its discharge permit with the state.
Because Cristallago would be built close to a LACOSAN treatment facility, Dellinger warned that it would be important to understand that the facility is industrial in nature, so disclosure is very important to potential homebuyers.
Finley resident Phil Muphy said his biggest problem with Cristallago is that it basically throws the county's lengthy process to create a new general plan into the garbage, and flies in the face of how the plan envisions the county developing in the years ahead.
He cited the development's location outside the community growth boundary as a big concern. “We've decided that the priority here should be infill in redevelopment, not sprawling out into new areas and doing that at the expense of rehabilitating these other areas that need to be upgraded.”
Murphy added, “We need to fix the messes we've got now before we start going out in new directions.”
He said he was appalled that developers from outside the county would come in and attempt to throw out the general plan as if it hadn't been done. “It doesn't help when they come in here and tell us we can't manage our lake without their help.”
Impact on agricultural operations also could be major, he said, doubting that people buying upscale homes will be accommodating to the kinds of agricultural operations – like spraying – that take place at certain times of the year.
About 30 people had been in the room for the morning session, which began at 11:30 a.m. After Burns' half-hour presentation and a half hour of public comment, the commission decided to break for lunch, which raised objections from some audience members. After lunch, only about a third of the people returned.
John Lee, a neighbor of the Cristallago property, questioned the development's affordability and doubted if any local people could take advantage of it. He also suggested it could have serious implications for Scotts Valley, a prime agricultural area which could become increasingly developed as more builders try to come in around Cristallago.
Lee was concerned that funding for the project might dry up. On the former Las Fuentes project, the site of which is now included in Cristallago, Lee said old construction was still out there.
On the issue of the golf course, he quoted a National Golf Foundation report on how, over the last three years, more golf courses have closed nationwide than have opened. He quoted the association as saying the golfing boom has died.
“To me this project is predicated on the assumption that the golf boom that took place in the '80s and '90s is going to continue, and I think that is a horribly overoptimistic assumption to make,” Lee said.
Brad Peters, another adjacent property owner to the Cristallago property, raised issues of zoning conflicts and lighting, and, like Brandon, questioned the idea that the sound wouldn't have a significant impact. “That statement to me is ludicrous.”
Peters, who builds racing engines, said there is nothing in the EIR that tells him how his business will be affected or how it might affect Cristallago, the plans for which include a welcome center next to his land.
“It's going to be like living on Main Street,” he said.
County officials explained that the review period for Cristallago's draft EIR has been extended, with the deadline for comments moved from Dec. 29 to Jan. 8, 2009. After the review period the commission will continue the hearing.
Coel said county staff will come back with information on components of the project, the general plan amendment, general plan of development and rezone. “We're still obtaining comments on the EIR and will need to be prepared to address those comments,” he said.
Thursday's hearing was an opportunity to vet more public comment, which Coel said is advantageous to all parties, especially given the project's scale.
Brandon asked the commission if they could time the next meeting better, possibly beginning the session in the afternoon, in order to make sure everyone who wants to offer comment can do so. She referred to the large group of people earlier in the day which had dwindled after the lunch break. Coel said they would try to arrange the scheduling differently and would plan for early afternoon for the remaining hearings.
Commissioner Cliff Swetnam said that, given the project's scope – possibly the biggest in the county's history next to Hidden Valley Lake – he would like to see the commission hold an actual meeting on the site at some point in the future.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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