LAKE COUNTY – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law a resolution authored by First District Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast) that designates Highway 53 as “Lake County Veterans Memorial Highway.”

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 136 also serves as a tribute to Lance Corporal Ivan Wilson of Clearlake and Sgt. 1st Class David J. Hartman, the son of a Kelseyville family, who gave their lives in the service of this country.

“Millions of California residents have served our country in the military and they deserve our gratitude,” Chesbro added. “Designating a highway in their honor is the least we can do to show our appreciation.”

Lance Corporal Wilson was killed in July 2008 while serving in Afghanistan. He grew up in Clearlake and enlisted in the Marines in 2005. Prior to Afghanistan, he saw action in Iraq.

Sgt. 1st Class David J. Hartman died in Pakistan this past February while serving in support of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The son of Greg Hartman of Kelseyville, Sgt. Hartman enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2000 upon graduating from high school. He had also seen action in Iraq and completed a previous tour in Afghanistan.

The resolution reads, in part:

“WHEREAS, It is important to appreciate, admire, and honor the men and women who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America to protect and defend our country and the freedom, rights, and privileges enjoyed by all Americans; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates State Highway Route 53 from its junction with State Highway Route 29 in Lower Lake to the Junction of State Highway Route 20 in Clearlake Oaks as the Lake County Veterans Memorial Highway …”

The idea for a Veterans Memorial Highway originated in the Clearlake Rotary Club.

Member Carl Webb of Clearlake said that while on a fishing trip he noticed other highways in the state had memorial designations.

Webb brought the suggestion to Club President Terry Stewart, who presented it to the board of directors.

Member Bill Cornelison also got involved, contacting Chesbro’s field office in Ukiah and working with Webb to lobby support from Lake County Board of Supervisors, the Clearlake City Council and a number of veterans groups.

“The whole idea about the memorial highway designation is to provide a small token of appreciation for the tremendous sacrifices our service men and women and their families have given to us,” Webb said. “One of the real pleasures that I received by doing this project was the honor of meeting several of our veterans whom I might otherwise have never known.”

The Clearlake Rotary Club will be responsible for raising the funds to pay for the signage. Webb told the Clearlake City Council last month that the club expects the have the signs up by the end of the year.

Caltrans will determine the cost and work with the club to find appropriate spots to install them, Chesbro's office reported.

ACR 136 received support from the Clearlake City Council, Lake County Board of Supervisors, Rotary Club of Clearlake, American Legion Post 194, Lake County Disabled Veterans of America, Lake County Voiture 912 40 and 8, Operation Tango Mike, Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 951 and Veteran’s of Foreign Wars of the United States.

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LAKE COUNTY – A number of seats for local school districts, health care, fire protection and conservation districts will be up for election this November, with the filing periods now open.

Lake County Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley reported that a governing board member election for Konocti Unified and Middletown Unified School districts will be held as part of the Nov. 2 general election.

The filing period opened Monday and ends at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, according to Fridley.

Konocti Unified and Middletown Unified each have three vacancies open for four-year terms, Fridley said. The seats become vacant on the first Friday in December or until a successor is elected and qualifies for office.

Also up for election are seats in the following districts.

Northshore Fire Protection District

Lucerne Zones 1 and 2: Four-year term

Nice Zones 1 and 2: Four-year term

At large: Four-year term

East Lake Resource Conservation District

Three vacancies for four-year terms; directors are appointed by the Lake County Board of Supervisors.

West Lake Resource Conservation District

Two vacancies: Four-year terms

One vacancy: Two-year unexpired term

Redbud Health Care District

Zone 2, one vacancy: Four-year term

Zone 4, one vacancy: Four-year term

Fridley said anyone wanting information regarding filing for these elective offices may contact her office at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Room 209, in Lakeport from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or call 707-263-2372.

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AltaGas Income Trust of Calgary, Alberta is proposing the project, which would install dozens of wind turbines hundreds of feet tall along ridgetops in the Walker Ridge area, located along the border of Lake and Colusa counties, as Lake County News has reported.

Peter Eaton, project development director for wind projects, outlined the plan for the board.

He said AltaGas has been around since 1994, has an enterprise value of more than $2 billion and employs more than 800 people, most of them in Canada.

He said the company got into wind projects in 2006, and recently completed a 100 megawatt wind farm in British Columbia.

“It's intriguing that the county has a long history of renewable energy engagement,” Eaton told the board.

The Walker Ridge area – at about a 3,000 foot elevation – “is relatively open country in terms of residential development,” said Eaton.

The company would lease land from the Bureau of Land Management to locate the project. He said the BLM land in question is about 8,000 contiguous acres.

The goal is to place the windmills on the ridge, Eaton said. There would be between 29 and 42 Siemens wind turbines which would generate between 60 and 70 megawatts of power, enough to supply 25,000 households.

Construction is expected to take between seven and nine months in 2012, according to the proposal's timeline, Eaton explained.

There would be 70 to 100 construction jobs, most of them union. Eaton said AltaGas is beginning to work with unions now to secure the labor.

“Why does it have to be union?” asked Supervisor Rob Brown.

Eaton replied that it is difficult to build a large construction project in this part of the work without union labor.

Brown said that means the workers will come from outside of the area. “We're always looking for opportunities for our local people to find work,” he said.

Once the project is up and running, Eaton anticipated between four and eight full-time position would be created. With the company looking at 20- to 25-year power purchase agreements, “We think those jobs are pretty steady jobs,” Eaton said.

Supervisor Jim Comstock asked if those would be local jobs or whether AltaGas would bring people in to fill them. Eaton replied that some of the jobs are quite specialized.

Comstock asked the salary range for the jobs, and Eaton reported they would be between $50,000 and $100,000 annually, which Comstock noted was comparable to wages paid at The Geysers geothermal facility.

Eaton said they expect 500 acres of the more than 8,000 acres to be impacted by the construction project, but he estimated less than 100 acres will be impacted long-term. The location is relatively close to the Pacific Gas & Electric transmission line, meaning a new line won't need to be constructed.

He said AltaGas chose the area due to the BLM's 2006 management plan designating it as a potential wind site. Eaton said the company has purchased wind data from the project's previous owner and collected a year of their own.

“We've confirmed that it's a reasonable site,” he said.

So far they've not found any federal or state endangered species on the site, Eaton said. The company currently is doing studies on birds and bats, as well as noise and visuals.

Board Chair Anthony Farrington pointed out that Lake County – which is a net energy exporter thanks, in part, to The Geysers – hasn't previously benefited from much of the energy produced locally.

He asked if that would be the same with this project. Eaton said it would.

Supervisor Denise Rushing asked about the timing of an environmental impact study. Eaton said he expects to have public scoping meetings in August – one in Williams, in Colusa County, and one in Clearlake.

When the draft environmental impact statement comes out in 2011, it will have a comment period, Eaton said.

Eaton said he will be in touch with the board to update them on the wind farm proposal's progress.

Victoria Brandon, representing the Sierra Club's Redwood Chapter, said the group hasn't taken a formal position on the proposal.

Renewable energy is great, but “it's also a balancing act with environmental consequences,” Brandon said.

She said wind farms have to have their impacts on wildlife reviewed. “There will be a tremendous amount of earth that has to be moved for this,” she said, and anchoring vast structures in fractured geology will be a challenge.

Another challenge, said Brandon, will be widening the 26-foot-wide roads in the project area up to 40 feet when, in some places, the existing 26-foot width takes up entire ridgetops.

Brandon said the project area's serpentine soil contains not only asbestos but mercury. The BLM is trying to remediate some of the mercury mines up there that have caused impairment, she said.

Brown said he didn't think some of the issues relating to construction and roads would be much different than when a dam was built in that area. Brandon responded that it's a difficulty that doesn't exist with all wind farm projects.

The big project will be good for the county, Brown said.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

The council voted 5-0 at its July 8 meeting to approve the formation of a volunteer corps to help screen boats as they enter the lake from access points such as Redbud Park.

City Administrator Dale Neiman credited local businessman Doug Codling with initiating the idea.

Codling told the council that Lake County Chamber Chief Executive Officer Melissa Fulton asked if he would be interested in working with the city of Clearlake to start a volunteer group to work on quagga and zebra mussel prevention.

The volunteers would be at Redbud Park between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., where they will approach boaters without inspection bands or stickers to apprise them of the requirements and possible penalties, he said.

Volunteers don't have the power to issue citations, but they can take trailer licenses and report them to the sheriff's office, Codling said.

“It only takes one boat and we could be in real trouble,” he said.

Greg Giusti, University of California Cooperative Extension natural resources advisor for Lake and Mendocino counties, who the Board of Supervisors appointed chair of the county's Invasive Species Council, was at the meeting to offer the council additional information.

He said the Invasive Species Council represents businesses, the chamber, recreational interests, tribes, and county, state and federal government in the effort to protect Clear Lake, the largest natural body of water within California.

Giusti said the council has taken a grassroots, community-based approach.

“We really have tried to get as many people involved as possible,” he said. “Having the city of Clearlake involved is a huge step forward.”

Giusti said Clearlake's volunteer effort will provide a “united front” along with the city of Lakeport and the county.

He also offered himself as a resource to the council.

Vice Mayor Joyce Overton thanked Codling and Giusti for bringing the proposal forward.

“This is something that we needed at this end of the lake,” she said, noting that Lakeport's program has worked well and the lessons they've learned there can help Clearlake get off to a good start.

Councilman Roy Simons asked Giusti about infested lakes in California and if they're able to control the infestation once it occurs.

Giusti said in California there are currently 18 bodies of water known to host the quagga and zebra mussels. With one exception – Lake San Justo in San Benito County – all of them are south of Tehachapi, and have as their sources Lake Mead and Lake Havasu, with the invasive mussels traveling through aqueducts.

Once the mussels are present, there is no way to eradicate them, Giusti said.

New research is exploring how to deal with the mussels in controlled environments, but in open, wildland situations like Clear Lake or Lake Berryessa, “At this time there is no way to control the organism,” he said.

Simons suggested it's inevitable that the mussels will infest Clear Lake.

“It's a big, big challenge,” Giusti replied.

He said the California Department of Fish and Game has asked him to take on a statewide role in working on the invasive mussels issue. Giusti has been asked to put together a team of researcher and educators to tackle the problem.

“We are definitely swimming upstream,” he said.

City resident Jack Troyer urged the council to accept the proposal, lauding the grassroots effort and pointing out that the city has one of the lake's best boat launching areas.

Public Works Director Doug Herren told the council that city staff would make the program work.

Council members asked questions about boat cleaning, and where and how it would work. Giusti told them that the Department of Fish and Game quarantines boats found with dead mussels, as it did with one boat that came through a state border station. That boat was quarantined for more than six weeks.

Planning Commissioner Bill Perkins asked how bass tournaments are tracked.

Giusti explained that tournaments are required to get a Fish and Game permit, and tournament directors are held accountable for making sure boats are cleaned, drained and dry before entering the lake.

He said a Fish and Game warden was on hand at a recent tournament to inspect boats, and the tournament organizers made it clear that anyone found not complying would be disqualified and would forfeit their entry fees.

“The bass tournament industry is very well organized,” said Giusti.

A risk assessment showed that moored vessels, such as pontoon boats and sailboats, “are far and away the greatest risk” for transporting the mussels, according to Giusti.

Bass tournaments, sailing clubs and seaplane fly-ins are easy to address, Giusti said – it's the people who show up at the lake to enjoy a weekend who present the higher risk.

Councilman Curt Giambruno asked about plans for dealing with property owners who have launching ramps, where their friends and family from out of town can get into the lake.

Giusti said that's a challenge – there are more than 750 points of access on Clear Lake. He said he'd met with county Water Resources Director Scott De Leon that morning to discuss the issue, and some of the ideas being considered include putting reminder messages on property tax envelopes and power bills.

He said the latest research shows a person needs to hear a message 14 times before a behavioral changes results.

Mayor Judy Thein asked about what happens when locals go out of town and visit other lakes.

Giusti said county residents tend to get a pass once they get the initial sticker. “That is one of the weaknesses in the program,” he said. “It is based on an honor system.”

He suggested stickers for residents may need to be reissued in the next year or so.

Councilman Chuck Leonard moved to authorize Neiman to form the volunteer group, which the council approved 5-0.

Greg Giusti told Lake County News in a followup interview that he took part in the July 7 “America’s Great Outdoors,” listening session with members of President Barack Obama's administration at the University of California, Davis' Mondavi Center.

Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, was there, along with Congressman Mike Thompson and Ed Burton, California Natural Resources Conservation Service state conservationist, Giusti said.

Giusti had the opportunity to share with the group what Lake County is doing about invasive species, and he emphasized the need to have an organized approach to the threat.

“We move more water in this state than anywhere in the world,” he said.

He said administration officials seemed receptive.

“I was the only one who addressed the invasive species, which was good, because I think it stood out in their mind,” he said.

Giusti added, “This is one of those issues that cuts across all political and jurisdictional lines.”

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

The Lake County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on the DRAFT MIDDLETOWN AREA PLAN UPDATE (GPAP 09-05), the REZONING OF LANDS WITHIN THE AREA PLAN (RZ 09-09) and the ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT (EIR 09-05). Said hearing will be held at the Geysers Geothermal Visitors Center at 15500 Central Park Road in Middletown on August 3, 2010, at 6:00 p.m. at which time and place interested persons may attend and be heard thereon.

The Plan proposes to amend the general plan and rezone portions of approximately 150 square miles of unincorporated territory of Lake County including the communities of: Middletown, Hidden Valley Lake, and Anderson Springs along with the outlying rural areas. It includes all or portions of Assessor's Parcel Books 013, 014, 024, 050, 136, 141, 142 and 144.

The draft Area Plan provides comprehensive text and policy updates to guide land use and development decisions in the Middletown planning area through the year 2030.

The EIR and draft Middletown Area Plan are available for review by the public in the Lake County Community Development Department, 255 North Forbes Street, 3rd Floor of the County Courthouse, Lakeport, California and on-line at www.co.lake.ca.us.

For additional information, or to see if your property may be affected, please contact Kevin M. Ingram by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by telephone at (707) 263-2221.