CLEARLAKE – The Clearlake City Council voted unanimously Thursday to set a February hearing on a proposed housing and golf course development.
The vote came after a brief discussion of the Provinsalia development, which was the topic of two public hearings by the Clearlake Planning Commission in December.
With the council's approval, the hearing is scheduled to take place on Feb. 12.
The commission voted unanimously on Dec. 16 to recommend that the City Council certify Provinsalia's final environmental impact report, and approve a rezone and a general plan amendment to facilitate the project moving forward.
Provinsalia, proposed by Lake County Resort Partners Inc., would include 565 single-family homes and 100 condominiums, a nine-hole golf course and open space on the 183-acre developable portion of 292 acres along Cache Creek. The project is comprised of three parcels at 17012, 17055 and 17065 Dam Road.
City Administrator Dale Neiman advised the council to either not take public comment Thursday night or to limit it. The time for comments on the project itself will be at the Feb. 12 meeting.
“The purpose of the public hearing is to receive comments on the merit of the project,” Neiman said.
Council member Joyce Overton asked if the hearing would be the only thing on the agenda that night.
Neiman said it would, that he has asked City Clerk Melissa Swanson to keep other items off the agenda for that meeting. They also had tried to keep the two Planning Commission meetings free of other business. “We held some projects back.”
During the brief public comment portion, Herb Gura, a member of the Konocti Unified School District Board of Trustees, asked the city to make a special effort to ensure that the people who have submitted comments on the project are notified of the meeting.
“There is a lot of concern in the community,” Gura said.
Neiman said there's a problem with doing that. According to the Brown Act, which governs how open public meetings are to be run in order to ensure public participation, the city is required to send the agenda to those people who specifically request it.
Sierra Club Lake Group Chair Victoria Brandon thanked city staff and the Planning Commission for the effort that has gone into the public hearings and processing the project. She also thanked Planning Commission Chair Carl Webb for his generous comments at the Dec. 16 meeting in which he thanked the community for its participation.
“A lot of people really care about this,” Brandon said.
Brandon said a lot of people have been getting notices for the meetings on the project but she asked the city to go the “extra mile” to get the information into local publications. She said people are going to want to come and make their voices heard.
She said she'll also do what she can to help contact people.
“There are other folks out there who haven't spoken yet, and I think the council should seize this opportunity to hear what they have to say,” said Brandon.
After no further public comment or council discussion, Vice Mayor Judy Thein moved to direct staff to advertise and hold the public hearing Feb. 12.
Councilman Roy Simons seconded the motion, which the council approved 5-0.
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