CLEARLAKE, Calif. – On Saturday, March 23, Southshore Little League will mark this year’s opening day of competition on fields that has been lovingly and thoroughly revamped, an effort made possible by overwhelming community support.

This past week, if a person had chanced by the fields at Redbud Park – located on Ball Park Avenue – they would have seen men and women with wheelbarrows, trenchers, shovels and rakes working with furious energy.

“We’re trying to improve everything,” said Little League Board President Helen Mitcham.

About 420 local children are signed up to take part in the Little League play this year, Mitcham said.

Work started on Sunday, March 10, she said, and has proceeded at a furious pace in order to have everything ready for the March 23 season opener. At 8 a.m. on opening day there will be a pancake breakfast, with opening ceremonies at 9 a.m.

Although there are still a few jobs being completed – including some final electrical work that will take place this week – “We will be ready,” Mitcham said Monday night following a league board meeting.

Since work began, the fields have been trenched and scraped, with new sod put down to cover the trenching, the bases remeasured and mound totally rebuilt on the main field, she said.

There is a new coat of green paint on the buildings and dugouts, new roofing on the dugouts, the fences have been straightened, some new fencing also has been installed along with new bumpers on the tops of the chain-link fence, and the field’s aging electrical – the power panel was put up in 1976 – and sprinklers have been upgraded, according to Mitcham.

Warning tracks around the softball and main ballfields – so named because they’re meant to help warn outfielders going for a catch deep that they’re running out of room, that way they don’t hit the fence – have been created, the main field’s pitcher’s mound now has electrical run to it to enable a batting machine, the bathrooms have been revamped to make them ADA-compliant and the parking area has been leveled, Mitcham said.

Mitcham said there have been donations of a new flagpole and new United States and Little League flags.

There also is a brand new scoreboard, thanks to a local man’s donations, she said.

She said no one remembers the last time the fields and buildings underwent such a massive upgrade.

“It really is extraordinary,” Mitcham said.

Mitcham went to the Clearlake City Council on Jan. 24 to ask for a 10-year lease agreement with the city for the Redbud Park ballfields, as Lake County News has reported.

For years the league – chartered in 1958 – had leased the fields from the city on a year-to-year basis. Mitcham and the league wanted a longer term in order to be able to start the upgrades.

Mitcham joined the Little League board last year. “I asked a lot of questions,” she said.

The league had been hearing rumblings that the city intended to move them out to convert the fields to an RV park, but Mitcham said in her discussions with the city that plan was never confirmed.

She said some supporters hadn’t been willing to commit to donations out of concern that the team might not stay on Redbud Park’s fields.

But on Jan. 24 the Clearlake City Council gave the league its unanimous and enthusiastic support for a longer lease and the plans for major upgrades, with council members noting their desire to see more activities for young people in the city.

It was then the the support came pouring in, said Mitcham.

“The floodgates just opened when it became a reality that we were going to be here 10 years,” she said.

Mitcham said the community as a whole stood up to ask what it could do, with numerous individuals and businesses donating money or materials and time to the effort.

“It’s just become kind of a fun experience for everybody,” said Mitcham.

Donated materials, equipment and labor made it all possible, Mitcham said. The league, she emphasized, received all the required work permits from the city.

When the work is done, the league will have spent about $10,000 of its own funds, with Mitcham estimating it has received another $20,000 in materials, labor and equipment from local businesses and individuals.

Phil Harris of Performance Mechanical took on the duties of project leader.

With his bright neon yellow shirt, wide grin and palpable enthusiasm, Harris moved around the fields with the energy of a photon torpedo, overseeing the work of dozens of volunteers.

Those volunteers included about 70 men from PSI Seminars in Clearlake Oaks. “They just came and went to work,” Mitcham said.

She said generations of local residents have played on the Redbud Park fields as part of the league, and several of the men running equipment and doing jobs at the site said they, too, had been Little League players there while children.

City Councilman Joey Luiz, who stopped by during the week to see the work, said he also played Little League there.

Mitcham credited the council for its support, which helped launch the fields’ renewal project.

Looking across the field, which was buzzing with energy, Luiz said, “We did the easy part.”

How you can help: To find out more about how you can support Southshore Little League, call Board President Helen Mitcham at 707-998-9194. Donations can be mailed to the league at P.O. Box 779, Clearlake, CA 95422.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – As part of Tsunami Preparedness Week later this month, Mendocino County officials are planning a tsunami preparedness warning test.

On Tuesday March 12, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors proclaimed the week of March 24-30 as Tsunami Preparedness Week.

The Mendocino County Office of Emergency Services, in cooperation with the counties of Humboldt and Del Norte, the National Weather Service, and the California Emergency Management Agency, has scheduled a tsunami warning system test from 11 a.m. to noon Wednesday, March 27.

For those watching television between 11 a.m. and noon that day, expect to see a crawler at the bottom of the screen indicating that a tsunami warning has been issued and hear a voice indicating that it is only a test, officials reported. If you don’t hear the TV audio, please remember that this is only a test.  

If you are listening to the radio you will hear alerting tones followed by a voice announcing that the test is occurring. If you have a NOAA weather radio with the public alert feature the radio will automatically turn on and you will hear the same message as broadcast on radios.

Those who live in or near the cities of Fort Bragg or Point Arena may hear the sounding of tsunami sirens which, when activated, will “wail” for approximately three minutes, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reported.

There are two sirens located in the Noyo Harbor area and one located in the Pudding Creek area of Fort Bragg. There is one siren located in Arena Cove in the City of Point Arena, officials said.

As part of the tsunami warning system, the Civil Air Patrol, weather permitting, will be flying along the coastlines of Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties testing their public address system, the sheriff’s office reported.

The Mendocino County Office of Emergency Services also will test its emergency notification system (Reverse 911) with a public service announcement in the Fort Bragg and Point Arena areas.

If there is a real earthquake in the Pacific Ocean that has the potential to generate tsunami for the coastline the test will be canceled.

For more information on how to survive an earthquake or prepare for a tsunami visit www.humboldt.edu/shakyground/ .

The public is asked to help the agency evaluate the test by following the links at www.weather.gov/eureka or by calling 707-443-6484.

For questions please contact the Office of Emergency Services at 707-463-5667 or e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council this week will discuss a consumer price index-based increase for the city’s solid waste contractor.

The council will meet beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.

Public Works Director Mark Brannigan will take to the council the proposed CPI for residential solid waste services, including garbage, green waste and recycling, provided by Lakeport Disposal, which has had the city’s franchise hauling contract since January 2004.

Brannigan’s report to the council explains that the contract indicates that on Jan. 1 of each year, Lakeport Disposal will receive a rate adjustment equal to 75 percent of the percentage change from the previous year in the US Department of Labor Bureau of Statistics Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose area.

He said Lakeport Disposal is requesting the contractually agreed upon annual inflationary rate increase, which would total 2.78 percent for this calendar year.

On the council’s consent agenda, items usually accepted as a slate with one vote, are ordinances, warrants and minutes from the March 5 meeting, the building permit report for February and a letter to Congress opposing elimination of tax-exempt bonds.

Also on the consent agenda are applications for the Nor Cal Aircooled Group for a VW Car Show on Saturday, June 15; Corvettes of Lake County for a Corvettes Car Show on Sunday, May 26; Lakeport Main Street Association for the arts and crafts fair on Thursday, July 4, Taste of Lakeport on Saturday, Aug. 24, and Shipwreck Day on Saturday, Sept. 21; Rotary Club of Lakeport for the Konocti Challenge Bicycle Ride on Saturday, Oct. 5; Lake County Office of Education Children’s Council to hold and advocacy walk and children’s festival on Saturday, April 13; and Center for Life Choices walk for life on Saturday, April 27.

The council also will hold a closed session to discuss the appointment of a planning technician.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

031913 Lakeport City Council agenda.pdf

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council on Thursday reached a consensus to begin moving forward with turning Pomo Road into a one-way street in order to address safety issues, with the school district lending its support.

At the council’s previous meeting Mayor Jeri Spittler had asked for the matter to be brought forward.

Local resident Bruno Sabatier made a presentation to the council outlining safety concerns about Pomo Road, which many elementary school children travel on the way to Pomo Elementary School. About 600 children attend the school.

He pointed to issues regarding visibility, vehicle speed and the street’s narrowness.

Sabatier, who takes his son up the road every day to school, said there is a steep incline where a driver can’t see to the other side. He said he also sees cars going too fast down the road.

“From my personal experience I see a lot of things that scare me,” Sabatier said.

Konocti Unified School District reduced its busing services last May so that children who live within a certain proximity of schools aren’t picked up by the bus but, instead, walk. Sabatier cited that change as another concern, since more children are now walking through the area.

Pomo Road is only about 18 feet wide at most, compared to nearby Acacia Street, which his 33 feet wide, Sabatier reported.

He said conditions are particularly dangerous in the morning, when children arrive at school, and again in the afternoon, when school gets out. Children walk alongside of the road, with vehicles also parking on the roadside.

Sabatier, who said he had spoken to many people in the area about his concerns – including neighbors along the road – said he believed an accident was likely to happen, and he read a note from the school’s principal that also voiced her concern.

Sabatier asked the council to make Pomo Road a one-way street for the sake of safety.

City Engineer Bob Galusha said the road had been studied before, with a previous proposal to make it one way. He said that previous effort didn’t get off the ground after it failed to get grant funding, and that the school made some improvements on Acacia Street.

Galusha cautioned that making Pomo Road one way could impact the city’s traffic circulation, and that when turning a street one-way there usually is another street which also is made one-way to serve both directions of traffic.

A 2009 study of the Pomo Road had proposed rerouting buses as a safety solution, Galusha said.

While the road is narrow, it’s not unlike many other roads in the city, he said. Work was done on the road in 2009; before then, it was in very bad shape.

Galusha told the council that there would need to be a process that’s followed if the road is converted to one-way.

He acknowledged safety is a concern. “We’re trying to make those improvements when we can.”

Galusha said he reviewed crash history for Pomo Road. “Bottom line is, there has never been an accident in that area,” and because of that, if the city tried to pursue a grant program, it wouldn’t have the data to justify receiving the funding.

Dana Moore, Konocti Unified’s director of maintenance and operations, told the council that it’s possible that as many as 900 students could eventually attend Pomo Elementary School.

He said he and the district were in favor of making Pomo Road one-way. He said the school district board – which discussed the matter at its Wednesday night meeting – would consider the change a major improvement.

County Supervisor Jeff Smith encouraged the council to move forward with converting the road to one-way, and not to worry about turning any other street one-way to balance the traffic.

He said it was common sense that the improvements needed to take place, and he urged the council to take action and not to send it to the city’s traffic safety committee, which he considered an unnecessary step.

“Let’s just do it,” Smith said.

Councilman Joey Luiz agreed with Smith about not sending the matter to the committee.

“It’s just a huge amount of traffic there everyday,” said Luiz, adding that it was only going to get worse.

He said he wanted to direct staff to go forward with the process to make it a one-way street.

Council member Denise Loustalot acknowledged that the road has been a concern for a very long time in the community.

“It does need to be addressed. I think it should be addressed soon,” she said, adding that there needed to be a public notice and an implementation date.

Spittler wanted the process to move forward immediately, and asked the council for consensus to get the conversion done, preferably before school lets out for the summer.

City Manager Joan Phillipe reminded Spittler that there is a public notification process required by law that the city must go through first. Once she knows what will be required, Phillipe said she could come back to the council, which at that time could take formal action.

Galusha said he could enlist the assistance of Phil Dow of the Lake County/City Area Planning Council on the project.

“We have to develop the plan first and go through the process,” which will include notifications to people living in the surrounding area, said Galusha. He estimated the process could take about three months.

Spittler said she didn’t want to see the matter put off, as it was creating a city liability. “I’d like to see some real attention put on this as a priority.”

Council member Gina Fortino Dickson said she also wanted action, but she wanted to make sure they were not putting the city at risk by not following the proper protocol.

“I want to do it right,” Fortino Dickson said.

The council reached consensus to direct staff to move forward with beginning the process.

In other news, Councilman Joey Luiz told the council he wanted to bring back a potential action item regarding Sheriff Frank Rivero, who is up for a proposed vote of no confidence by the Board of Supervisors next Tuesday, March 19. The board also will consider seeking Rivero’s resignation.

Luiz, a former Rivero supporter who now has his own concerns about the sheriff and his performance, said he would put together a proposal for the council to consider making its own statement about Rivero.

“When something is wrong we need to make that statement to make it right,” Luiz said.

Also during the meeting, which ran just over an hour and a half, the council discussed Smart Meters but took no action, and at Phillipe’s suggestion agreed to hold over the discussion of awarding the contract for a new city new Web site to the March 28 meeting.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Tuesday the Board of Supervisors accepted a request to delay making a decision on whether to continue a contract with the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center.

Social Services Department Director Carol Huchingson asked the board for direction on the $4,400 contract with Lucerne Alpine Seniors Inc. for health-related senior support services.

On Feb. 28 the board for the Area Agency on Aging for Lake and Mendocino Counties terminated its $66,000 annual contract with the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center based on a state auditor’s conclusion that the center was a “high risk” provider of nutrition services, as Lake County News reported.

Huchingson told the board that the termination of the Area Agency on Aging contract raised questions about the center’s overall stability. The contract is being paid on a month to month basis.

Initially center Executive Director Robert Clifton said the center would not seek an appeal of the decision, but days later the center board appointed a new executive director, Rae Eby-Carl.

Eby-Carl, who took the job on Monday, March 4, has extensive experience with nonprofits and social programs.

She appeared before the board Tuesday and asked that the decision wait until the appeal process was completed. The payments the county makes to the center are for services that work in conjunction with the nutrition program, she said.

“You’re in a turnaround situation,” said Supervisor Denise Rushing. “This is going to be a real management challenge.”

Rushing urged Eby-Carl to draw on members of the community – Rushing included – to help turn the center around.

The board will want to know the status of the center’s financial stability when it next considers the contract.

“We will be extremely transparent with that, as well as very detailed in our monitoring,” Eby-Carl responded.

Rushing told Huchingson that she wanted staff to monitor the center closely, and wanted to hear back from the center in the future about its stability.

The appeal, according to Eby-Carl, is due to be heard by the Area Agency on Aging later this month.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A preview of the document that will help shape the future of the city of Clearlake was introduced to the community this past weekend.

On Saturday, March 9, the fourth and final meeting for the city of Clearlake’s General Plan Project was held by the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the city of Clearlake at Clearlake City Hall.  
 
The meeting presented the preferred growth plan, generated from both community feedback gathered from the last community meeting, and background research on the city’s current conditions.
 
The general plan project is a partnership between the city and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Together, they are working to review and renew the existing general plan, placing strong emphasis on the public’s involvement.
 
The team is made up of second-year graduate students in the City and Regional Planning master’s program, under the leadership of Dr. Cornelius Nuworsoo.

The presentation began with describing the process of the general plan’s three stages.

The first stage was describing what the city is currently like.

The Cal Poly San Luis Obispo students conducted an inventory of all land uses and researched the background of available documents.

In the second stage, preferences for the vision of Clearlake were explored.

In the third stage, the students put together what they thought were ways to get to the vision that was expressed in the previous two stages.
 
All of the information from the three stages and Saturday’s meeting are to be compiled into the draft general plan, with a target date of this month.  
 
The general plan provides a city with guidelines for future planning decisions. California law requires that cities and counties prepare a general plan to guide planning decisions.
 
The city of Clearlake currently has the same general plan as it did when the city incorporated in 1980.  This project is to review and renew this plan.
 
The general plan is required by law to address seven elements: land use, circulation, housing, safety, open space, noise and conservation.
 
Four other elements – economic development, public facilities, community design and health – are optional and have been included by the Cal Poly Graduate students to provide further depth.
 
At the last workshop meeting, the students looked at three plans for growth development: business as usual, infill/redevelopment and clustered growth.  

The participants responded to a series of questions regarding each plan, telling the students what the community desired.

The feedback from that meeting included:

• Emphasis on mixed-use housing options;
• A commercial development that focused on tourism and the waterfront;
• Slowing down traffic and creating more pedestrian options with addition of sidewalks;
• Light industry supported in Ogulin Canyon;
• Pocket parks in residential neighborhoods;
• All weather road options for emergency service access for unpaved roads;
• Traffic calming measures and safe routes to school for Pomo Elementary.

The background research for the Cal Poly students helped them to identify Clearlake’s strengths as well as where improvements are needed.

That background research included a land use inventory and analysis of the existing conditions in the city, which included economic and demographic data provided by the U.S. Census and other government agencies.

To develop the background report, background research was combined with community input.
 
A variety of mediums were utilized in hearing the community’s opinions, preferences and feedback to the process.  

The Plan Clearlake Web site, http://planclearlake.weebly.com , has been populated with all documents and presentations to the community.  

Residents not able to make the meetings took advantage of the site and sent in their comments via email.
 
As a part of the process, three community meetings were conducted preceding last Saturday’s presentation.

Meeting one recognized the community’s thoughts on what is holding the community back and what aspects have the potential to reinvent and reinvigorate the area.

Meeting two took the concerns and ideas of the community and presented emerging directions from community input.  

Meeting three the planning team presented three growth plans based on projected population, job, and housing projections.  

After the feedback of preferences by element and by plan, the Cal Poly Graduate students developed a preferred plan for review at Saturday’s meeting.
 
All recommendations were made in accordance with state and federal standards as well as local input.
 
The students then presented the city’s land use inventory, 2010 employment trends, income comparison and housing types.

Next was to review some of the opportunities and constraints to development and the growth that is expected to occur in the city between now and 2040 in terms of population, housing, employment, land opportunities, land constraints, population growth, 2040 employment target and housing need.

Then, under the preferred scenario process, the students presented assumptions, land use map, redevelopment map, Lakeshore Drive, Austin Park, the Avenues, Gateway at Lakeshore and Highway 53, public parks, regional shopping center and circulation maps.

Finally, the students presented how this plan is likely to affect the elements included in Clearlake’s general plan.  

They covered housing, circulation, conservation, open space, noise, economic development, safety, public facilities, police and fire, community design and health.

After the Cal Poly students finalize the draft of the general plan, they will submit a draft plan to the city of Clearlake for editing.  

Once the draft of the general plan is approved, a review of the environmental impacts of the plan will be conducted.
 
Once everything is approved by the Clearlake City Council, policy implementation will begin.
 
The zoning code can then be updated and specific plans envisioned.

Special thanks to Professor Cornelius Nuworsoo and his Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Planning graduate students for their help with excerpts of their presentation for this article.  

Email Nathalie V. Antus at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .