LAKEPORT – For those who are curious about what Lakeport might look like over the next 20 years, they'll have the opportunity to see the road map for the city's future at a meeting next Tuesday.

The Lakeport City Council plans a public hearing and review of its draft General Plan beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 19, in the council chambers at City Hall, according to Lakeport Community Development Director Richard Knoll.

An important part of the hearing will include the council's discussion of the City of Lakeport Municipal Sewer District (CLSMD) property, said Knoll. That 700-acre property is slated for eventual annexation, and the city is negotiating with a developer on a golf course and residential subdivision for the site.

This hearing and draft General Plan review is the latest in a series of public meetings and workshops on the subject at both the Planning Commission and City Council levels, Knoll said.

“We're getting close now to the end of the process,” he said.

The new plan is different from the old in the following ways:

– Includes modifications to the city's sphere of influence;

– Gives general guideline on how the CLMSD property – referred to as the Specific Plan Area – should be developed;

– Adds an economic development element and revises the community development element;

– Combines low- and medium-density residential designations to give the city greater flexibility in considering rezoning requests;

– Includes a policy limiting the size of formula retail (or “big box”) stores;

– Has new policies on facilities such as child and elder care centers;

– Changes land use designations from major retail to office for several parcels north of 11^th Street and adjacent to Highway 29;

– Introduces policies related to best management practices.

The plan in its current draft form probably won't be adopted as the final plan, but it's close to being finished, Knoll said. It includes public comment gathered from previous workshops and meetings, and incorporates changes made by both the council and Planning Commission.

“Essentially, on the 19^th, we're looking for direction from the council to proceed with this version as the final draft,” he said.

If the council gives the go ahead, city staff will then finalize an environmental impact report for the draft General Plan, Knoll explained. The environmental report will be sent out for a 45-day public review period, with submitted comments incorporated into the final environmental impact report.

CLMSD future included in plan

As Lake County News previously reported, last November the City Council entered into a negotiation agreement with Boeger Land Development regarding a development proposal for the CLMSD property.

Although no final proposal has been brought forward, council members have expressed interest in seeing an 18-hole golf course and residential subdivision on 500 acres of the 700-acre CLMSD property. Proposed zoning densities would allow between 600 and 2,400 residential units on the property at buildout, according to Knoll.

The council appointed a subcommittee including Mayor Roy Parmentier, City Councilman Buzz Bruns and Jim Burns, who represents Boeger Land Development, to discuss the proposal.

Parmentier has been a fierce proponent of the golf course/subdivision plan. As Lake County News has reported, Parmentier and Burns are “fishing buddies” and friends, a disclosure that was not made publicly until Parmentier was confronted with it in a January council meeting.

Also on the committee was consultant Dale Neiman, who since being brought on to assist in the project was hired at Clearlake's city administrator.

In February, Lake County News reported that Neiman and the committee proposed amending the draft General Plan's language with regard to how the CLMSD property would be classified and, ultimately, developed.

In the current plan draft, the property is called a “specific plan” area. In a specific plan, the state's Office of Planning and Research's (OPR) General Plan Guidelines explains that it must include detailed specifications about proposed land use, infrastructure, development standards and financing.

Neiman told Lake County News in a February interview that he made the proposal because he believed it would save both the city and the developer time and money, but would still include a public input process.

Knoll said in February that his interpretation of that language change was that it would reduce the public process in the land's development.

One of his main concerns was that the city has never analyzed the property in a “meaningful way,” and that a specific plan process would do just that.

On March 14, Neiman's proposal went to the Planning Commission, who – on staff recommendations -- turned down Neiman's proposal because the city has never done any planning for the property.

In addition, the commission came up with its own recommendation, said Knoll, which the City Council will consider June 19.

Specifically, the commission suggested the CLMSD property be called a General Plan Area “A” in the General Plan. Knoll said the two plans are very similar, with a public review process, although a specific plan area has more detail.

The commission's intent, he said, is to require the city to complete a planning process for the CLMSD land. In anticipation of the June 19 meeting, Knoll said they've asked their General Plan consultant to submit a General Plan update on the property.

For the city to be able to move forward with its plan for the property, it would have to go through the annexation process, since the land is technically within the county's jurisdiction. Annexation isn't a quick process, and the city must prove its ability to provide services such as sewer and water.

The city is currently going through the annexation process for a 157-acre area along Parallel Drive, which the Local Area Formation Commission put off for a month at its meeting last week in order to give the city the chance to provide more information on its sewer hookup capacity.

The city was hit by the state with a hookup ban for its sewer facilities earlier this year, and has only had the ban lifted on condition of fulfilling a laundry list of involved projects by November.

Copies of and information concerning the draft Lakeport General Plan can be obtained at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St. Written comments regarding the draft Lakeport General Plan may be submitted to the city at the City Hall address.

For more information concerning the plan, call Knoll at 263-5613 ext. 25.

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

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