A map of the three Provinsalia parcels outlined in red: the small square at the bottom left is 17055 Dam Road, 10.19 acres in size; next is a 17.78-acre triangle-shaped parcel, 17065 Dam Road, that runs into the middle of Cache Creek; and the largest parcel is 17012 Dam Road, which measures 259.37 acres in size. That totals 287.34 acres. The total project is supposed to encompass 292 acres according to city documents.

CLEARLAKE – The proposed Provinsalia subdivision along Cache Creek will be a topic of discussion at the Clearlake City Council's Thursday meeting.

The council will meet at 6 p.m. at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive. Meetings also are televised on TV Channel 8.

As it's proposed by Lake County Resort Partners Inc., Provinsalia would include 665 housing units – 565 single-family homes and 100 condominiums – and a nine-hole golf course on 292 acres along Cache Creek at 17012, 17055 and 17065 Dam Road.

The plan has been in the works for several years under the auspices of development companies of various names.

Last month, following two lengthy hearings, the Clearlake Planning Commission unanimously passed a resolution encouraging the council to certify Provinsalia's final environmental impact report, and to approve its general plan amendment and rezone the land from resource protection zoning to specific plan designation.

On Thursday, the council will consider a 78-page report from City Administrator Dale Neiman on the project's status and staff responses to letters on the environmental impact report. Council members also will consider authorizing a public notice to hold public hearings on the planning commission's recommendation.

Neiman is recommending the council move forward with the hearings.

If approved, the public hearing would be held Feb. 12. That's because a court ruling last year changed the normal proceedings for advertising public hearings on rezoning property and amending general plans, according to Neiman.

As a result of the ruling, the council must receive the recommendation then authorize the public hearing notice, which Neiman said adds a month to the process.

The public hearing's purpose, according to Neiman, is to give the public a chance for rebuttal on the draft and final environmental impact reports and staff reports.

Neiman's report said city staff gave council members a copy of Provinsalia's draft specific plan two months ago. In that time there have been “minor” changes, said Neiman, including an updated traffic analysis the city completed based on Caltrans comments on the project and incorporating climate change mitigation measures. He said planning commissioners also reviewed those changes.

The developable acres of the property only number 183 when subtracting for land with more than 30-percent slope, protected oak woodlands, cultural resource sites, waterways and wetlands, according to Neiman's report. Another 77 acres is set to be put aside for open space.

That puts the project's density at 3.6 single-family homes per acre, which Neiman points out is less than the 6.7 units allowable under current zoning.

The project area includes 95 acres of oak trees, 51 acres of which would need to be removed with 63 areas reportedly to be restored.

Neiman suggests to the council that Provinsalia will significantly increase the amount of sales and property tax per person that the city receives.

“Today the City receives $99/person in sales tax revenues and $54/person for police services from Prop P for a total of $153/person,” Neiman's report states. “If you assume the average household income for the residents in Provinsalia is $61,000 and the ratio for the City in the previous sentence holds true, the sales tax and Prop P revenues would be $523/person for Provinsalia. Therefore, Provinsalia would produce 242 percent more in sales tax revenues to support police and other governmental services.”

He also theorizes that if the Provinsalia units were $240,000 each, with a 2-percent value increase annually, Provinsalia would provide 204 percent more in property taxes compared to the average home. The project also is proposed to raise the city's average annual household income by more than $3,000.

Neiman said that Provinsalia will be required to have fire resistant construction materials and an annually maintained fuel modification area. As a result he suggests the project “can be used as an example to improve fire protection.”

Included in the report packet is a Dec. 16 letter from Sierra Club Lake Group Chair Victoria Brandon, who had asked planning commissioners to send the final environmental impact report back to the consultants because her group found it had inadequate measures to deal with loss of woodland carbon sequestration and concern about impacts on cultural resources in the areas proposed for a new road and utility pipelines. Later that same day the commission gave the project its approval.

In a Dec. 15 letter to Brandon, which she submitted to the city, the California Oak Foundation said its review of the environmental document's climate change amendments finds that the document “still fails to meaningfully analyze or mitigate carbon dioxide emissions associated with the conversion of oak woodlands to non-forest use.”

“With this omission, Provinsalia disregards the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the opinions of the California Attorney General and recent court decisions by failing to make a good faith effort to analyze or mitigate project greenhouse emissions,” wrote Janet S. Cobb, the foundation's president.

Cobb suggests Provinsalia's developers would need to preserve, in perpetuity, an off-site property of 90 contiguous acres of oak woodland equivalent in ecological function and quality as a condition of project approval.

At the Thursday meeting, the council also is set to consider providing financial assistance to the annual Bluegrass Festival, and to consider the mayor's 2009 appointments.

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

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