The following is a list of the board and the number of vacancies.

– Alcohol and Other Drugs Advisory Board: Ten vacancies, two in each supervisorial districts

– Animal Care and Control Advisory Board: Seven vacancies, one in each supervisorial district and two in the member-at-large category.

– Area 1 Developmental Disabilities Board: Three vacancies.

– Area Agency on Aging: Four vacancies.

– Audit Committee: One vacancy in the public at large category.

– Big Valley Groundwater Management Zone Commission: Four vacancies, one in the member-at-large category, one in the agricultural users category and two in the water district category.

– Building Board of Appeals: Five vacancies, one in each supervisorial district.

– Clear Lake Advisory Sub-Committee Advisory Board: Ten vacancies, one in each of the following categories – agriculture, navigation, public access (open space), wildlife, recreation, habitat-ecology, algae (aesthetics), rimland property owners, fishery, water quality I category and water quality II category.

– Countywide Parks and Recreation Advisory Board: Five vacancies, one in each supervisorial district.

– Emergency Medical Care Committee: Eighteen (18) vacancies, one in the Lakeside Hospital Category, one in the Redbud Hospital Category, one in the community college district category, two in the ER affiliated-medical care coordinator category, one in the private ambulance company category, one in the EMT I category, one in the EMT II category, one in the paramedic representative category, four in the consumer-interested group category; and one in each of the fire districts.

– First Five Lake County: One vacancy in the member-at-large category.

– Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee: Twelve vacancies, one in each of the following categories – conservation/fisheries, land conservation organization, conservation/wildlife, recreation industry,wildlife preservation, livestock, law enforcement and one in each of the supervisorial districts.

– Glenbrook Cemetery District Board: Two vacancies, Supervisorial Districts 1 and/or 5.

– Hartley Cemetery District: Three vacancies, Supervisorial District 4.

– Heritage Commission: Seven vacancies and must be a member/representative of one of the following organizations: Friends of the Lake County Museum Category, Lake County Historical Society, Lower Lake Historical Schoolhouse, genealogical society Category, Middletown Historical Society, and two in the members-at-large category (membership shall include one representative in each supervisorial district).

– In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Advisory Committee: Five vacancies, one in the senior consumer category, one in the disabled consumer category, two in the senior community category and one in the provider category.

– Kelseyville Cemetery District: Two vacancies, Supervisorial District 5.

– Lake County/City Areawide Planning Council: Two vacancies in the members-at-large category.

– Lakeport County Fire Protection District: Five vacancies, Supervisorial District 4.

– Law Library Board of Trustees: Three vacancies, three board appointees comprised of either a representative of the Board of Supervisors, the chairman of the board and/or members of the county bar.

– Library Advisory Board: Five vacancies, one in each of the supervisorial districts.

– Lower Lake Cemetery District: One vacancy, Supervisorial Districts 1, 2 and/or 3.

– Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health (MCAH) Advisory Board: Fifteen vacancies in the following categories – parents, professionals, school representatives, advisory advocates and interested individuals.

– Middletown Area Town Hall (MATH) Municipal Advisory Council: Seven vacancies. Applicants must be registered voters in the county of Lake and reside within the boundaries of the Middletown Area Town Hall; three members must reside within an area known as “Middletown Proper” as described as that area located within the following boundaries – Hartmann Road, Oat Hill Mine Road, Rancheria Road and Anderson Springs Road; and four members who may reside outside of the area known as the “Middletown Proper”; no more than two members may reside in any one of the following areas – north of Hartmann Road, south of Rancheria Road, east of Oat Hill Mine Road and west of Anderson Springs Road.

– Middletown Cemetery District: One vacancy, Supervisorial District 1.

– Public Defender Oversight Committee: Three vacancies, one in the Local Attorney Category (applicants that do not accept appointments to represent indigent defendants, who is a member of the

bar association and not employed by the county of Lake); and two in the general public category.

– Solid Waste Management Task Force: One vacancy in the public representative category.

– Spring Valley CSA No. 2 Task Force: Seven vacancies, Supervisorial District 3.

– Vector Control District Board of Trustees: One vacancy.

All the vacancies are countywide unless stated. All appointments to the above-referenced advisory boards will be made after Jan. 1, 2009.

For applications, or if you have questions regarding a vacancy on one of these advisory boards, please contact the Clerk to the Board at 263-2371. Also, applications are available at the Lake County

Courthouse, Clerk of the Board Office, Room 109, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

Please note that all memberships on the above referenced advisory boards are voluntary.

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The commission's wasn't planning any action relating to the golf course and housing development plan, to be located two and a half miles north of Lakeport along Highway 29.

Rather, as Community Development Director Rick Coel explained, the purpose of the two-hour hearing was to get more public comment on Cristallago's massive draft environmental impact report.

“Today's meeting is really not to get into the issues of the rezone and the general plan of development,” he said.

Matt Boeger and Mark Mitchell, the men behind the project, came to listen to the hearing.

Neither man spoke before the commission, but instead were represented by Jim Burns, who also had made a presentation to the Lakeport City Council on the project's current form last month.

Referring to a Lake County News headline from earlier this week in which Cristallago was referred to as one of the “big three” local developments, Burns said they weren't there to ask for a bailout, but were instead were there to help bail the county out of hard economic times. They'll do that, he said, by bringing in jobs and revenue for local businesses and agencies.

A real estate study done several years ago looked at the kinds of projects that would be good for the county, and that helped inform Cristallago, which resembles some of that report's proposals, said Burns.

Burns' half-hour presentation went over the parameters of the development, which would have 650 single-family homes, 325 resort units, an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, spa, access to the lake, fine dining and more built over 862 acres. That includes 576 acres of open space.

He presented a video showing golf great Jack Nicklaus visiting the site and assessing its potential.

Nicklaus called the land “a wonderful piece of property.”

“You have a golf course,” he said, noting the views and unique characteristics of the land.

The video presentation painted a picture of future homeowners and resort visitors being able to fish in the morning, golf in the afternoon, open a bottle of locally grown wine in the evening, and enjoy nearby fine dining. For entertainment, the video said it would be just a short drive to a local casino or to Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa for a show, or a trip into Lakeport or other neighboring communities to shop.

Burns said the project's goal is to promote Lake County as a unique resort destination, be able to pay its own way and be financially beneficial to the community. He added that Boeger and Mitchell have taken care to protect the land as much as possible.

One of the important points of the plan includes using reclaimed wastewater to water the 18-hole golf course.

At the opening of the public hearing, Bill Smith, a member of the Northern California Power Agency's geothermal staff, addressed the golf course's projected use of wastewater. He questioned the availability of that wastewater in light of the county's agreements with the agency to support Basin 2000, which takes effluent from around the county and sends it to the agency's operations at The Geysers, where the water is injected into the geothermal steamfields.

Smith was concerned that the golf course might cut into the water needed for the geothermal usage.

He said the draft environmental impact report (EIR) deals with the potential availability of wastewater in dry and wet years based on assumptions that have been thrown out of whack. “Our most recent year is actually more severe, more dry than the dry year that is used in evaluating the availability of the water,” he said.

The bottom line, said Smith was the EIR has to have up-to-date numbers for water assessment and must give an assurance that the county will continue to fulfill its responsibility to keep wastewater flowing into the pipeline, which is critical to the agency's operations at The Geysers.

He said they were only voicing their concern that there will be times when there isn't surplus wastewater, and so a backup plan for watering the golf course must be created.

Sierra Club Lake Group Chair Victoria Brandon said she took exception to a comment Burns made during his presentation about many agencies being involved with managing Clear Lake but no one actually being in charge.

She then turned to the EIR, pointing to land use, sound and traffic issues. The document also needed updates since the new county general plan has been accepted, said Brandon. That plan has tighter restrictions on ridgeline development that should affect Cristallago, which she said has “a considerable amount” of development planned in such areas.

The EIR's consultants also had concluded that the project wouldn't have a significant noise impact. That might be true for an area that's already urban, but for a very rural area Brandon argued that it's simply not an accurate portrayal.

She further suggested a more thorough traffic study was needed, since the project – estimated to generate 11,000 trips a day – would affect Highway 29 and Lakeport, and warned that the treatment plant needed to make lake water drinkable was extremely expensive and shouldn't be placed on the shoulders of current water system ratepayers.

Brandon also cited AB 32 and its requirements for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The plan needs to look at that closely, she said, pointing to the potential removal of 94 acres of oak woodland. Rather than a golf course, she suggested “low impact recreation” like hiking and biking to draw on Lake County's unique beauty.

Lake County Sanitation District Administrator Mark Dellinger said he was disappointed that the EIR didn't have continuity between identifying issues and possible mitigations.

The sanitation district currently has a connection moratorium in County Service Area 21, where Cristallago would be located. A group of developers is trying to get financing to do a water plant there.

He said of Cristallago, “Projects like this can't get forward without those capacity improvements being made.”

Dellinger said they have to make sure that the wastewater capacity they're contractually obligated to provide to NCPA for The Geysers is met. In the meantime, if the golf course is built first a temporary water source will have to be determined. The county also will need to update its discharge permit with the state.

Because Cristallago would be built close to a LACOSAN treatment facility, Dellinger warned that it would be important to understand that the facility is industrial in nature, so disclosure is very important to potential homebuyers.

Finley resident Phil Muphy said his biggest problem with Cristallago is that it basically throws the county's lengthy process to create a new general plan into the garbage, and flies in the face of how the plan envisions the county developing in the years ahead.

He cited the development's location outside the community growth boundary as a big concern. “We've decided that the priority here should be infill in redevelopment, not sprawling out into new areas and doing that at the expense of rehabilitating these other areas that need to be upgraded.”

Murphy added, “We need to fix the messes we've got now before we start going out in new directions.”

He said he was appalled that developers from outside the county would come in and attempt to throw out the general plan as if it hadn't been done. “It doesn't help when they come in here and tell us we can't manage our lake without their help.”

Impact on agricultural operations also could be major, he said, doubting that people buying upscale homes will be accommodating to the kinds of agricultural operations – like spraying – that take place at certain times of the year.

About 30 people had been in the room for the morning session, which began at 11:30 a.m. After Burns' half-hour presentation and a half hour of public comment, the commission decided to break for lunch, which raised objections from some audience members. After lunch, only about a third of the people returned.

John Lee, a neighbor of the Cristallago property, questioned the development's affordability and doubted if any local people could take advantage of it. He also suggested it could have serious implications for Scotts Valley, a prime agricultural area which could become increasingly developed as more builders try to come in around Cristallago.

Lee was concerned that funding for the project might dry up. On the former Las Fuentes project, the site of which is now included in Cristallago, Lee said old construction was still out there.

On the issue of the golf course, he quoted a National Golf Foundation report on how, over the last three years, more golf courses have closed nationwide than have opened. He quoted the association as saying the golfing boom has died.

“To me this project is predicated on the assumption that the golf boom that took place in the '80s and '90s is going to continue, and I think that is a horribly overoptimistic assumption to make,” Lee said.

Brad Peters, another adjacent property owner to the Cristallago property, raised issues of zoning conflicts and lighting, and, like Brandon, questioned the idea that the sound wouldn't have a significant impact. “That statement to me is ludicrous.”

Peters, who builds racing engines, said there is nothing in the EIR that tells him how his business will be affected or how it might affect Cristallago, the plans for which include a welcome center next to his land.

“It's going to be like living on Main Street,” he said.

County officials explained that the review period for Cristallago's draft EIR has been extended, with the deadline for comments moved from Dec. 29 to Jan. 8, 2009. After the review period the commission will continue the hearing.

Coel said county staff will come back with information on components of the project, the general plan amendment, general plan of development and rezone. “We're still obtaining comments on the EIR and will need to be prepared to address those comments,” he said.

Thursday's hearing was an opportunity to vet more public comment, which Coel said is advantageous to all parties, especially given the project's scale.

Brandon asked the commission if they could time the next meeting better, possibly beginning the session in the afternoon, in order to make sure everyone who wants to offer comment can do so. She referred to the large group of people earlier in the day which had dwindled after the lunch break. Coel said they would try to arrange the scheduling differently and would plan for early afternoon for the remaining hearings.

Commissioner Cliff Swetnam said that, given the project's scope – possibly the biggest in the county's history next to Hidden Valley Lake – he would like to see the commission hold an actual meeting on the site at some point in the future.

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

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Liz Byrd of Lakeside Herbal Solutions went to the Clearlake City Council Thursday night to appeal the revocation of her business license. The city is pursuing the matter on the grounds that selling medical marijuana is prohibited under a city ordinance which prohibits any business that violates local, state or federal law.

City officials also have alleged that Byrd obtained her license by improperly describing her business, which she said was the result of a city staffer instructing her not to mention medical marijuana.

Following a discussion that lasted more than an hour, the council decided to seek more information from the city attorney to help them decide on how to proceed regarding Byrd's case.

Byrd came to the meeting with about 20 supporters, including attorney Bill McPike, who said he trains other attorneys on how to deal with medical marijuana issues.

He cited a thick set of documents Byrd submitted to the council, which included an e-mail from Council member Joyce Overton, who proposed having a roundtable discussion with city staff in order to get clarity on the issue.

McPike explained that Byrd's business is protected under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996.

“California medical marijuana law has never been overturned in any appellate court, it's never been overturned in any federal court, so we have our law and we have to deal with it,” he said.

Vice Mayor Chuck Leonard asked if Lakeside Herbal Solutions was a cooperative, collective or dispensary. McPike said he believed it qualified as a collective.

Leonard asked if it was a nonprofit or for-profit business. McPike said it was not a nonprofit per se, but said it doesn't make a profit. Quoting from the state attorney general's guidelines on enforcing medical marijuana law, Leonard said no one should profit from distributing it. “It seems to be contradictory to what's going on here,” he said.

According to Police Chief Allan McClain, Malathy Subramanian, the city's attorney, has said the city should remain on its current path, and let the courts decide before taking any action to create local regulations.

He said using marijuana is still against federal law, adding that the way the Compassionate Use Act is written is “bad law.”

City Administrator Dale Neiman said that, according to Subramanian, a number of cities around the state are relying on the same business license provision as Clearlake in dealing with medical marijuana. Specifically, it's a city ordinance that has been in force for years that says issuing a business license doesn't entitle the licensee to engage in any activity that violates federal, state or municipal law.

McPike told the council that local police don't follow federal law, they follow state law. Further, the US Supreme Court let stand an appellate court decision in the case of the city of Garden Grove, which seized a patient's medical marijuana and refused to return in.

The Fourth Appellate District ruled last year in that case that “it is not the job of the local police to enforce the federal drug laws,” as Lake County News has reported.

Byrd defended herself before the council against allegations that she had purposefully been misleading on her business license application, on which she said she was advised by a city staffer to use the word “holistic” when talking about the product she sells, and not to mention marijuana.

When another dispensary operator raised a concern that her license hadn't mentioned marijuana, Byrd said she went to the police department to speak with McClain, who wasn't there, so she spoke to Det. Tom Clemens.

Not long afterward, as she was preparing for her grand opening, McClain and Lt. Mike Hermann visited her shop to tell her she couldn't sell medical marijuana. By that time, said Byrd, she already had clients planning to use her services.

“I love my city. I don't want to be at odds with my chief. I don't want to be at odds with my City Council. I don't want to be at odds with anybody,” Byrd said, attributing the situation to a lack of communication.

Leonard alleged that Byrd did something “fraudulent” on her business license application by not listing cannabis, and pointed out that she signed it under penalty of perjury. Byrd maintained she had been instructed to do so.

Councilman Roy Simons asked about Byrd's business expenses. Byrd, who uses medical marijuana herself for fibromyalgia, said she doesn't take a salary. “It's not about the money, it's about the patients.”

Mayor Curt Giambruno, who was sworn in earlier in the evening for a new term, referred to his oath of office to uphold the US Constitution,

Earlier this year, a temporary yearlong moratorium expired that prohibited medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, but allowed three existing dispensaries to continue, said Neiman.

One of those dispensaries was raided this past May by local and federal officials, but two remain, and they are being allowed to continue operating, McClain said.

Council member Joyce Overton suggested that if they weren't going to allow new dispensaries under the city ordinance preventing business activities that break local, state or federal law, then even those dispensaries which currently are operating are doing so illegally and should be shut down. She said she knew that the city's two operating dispensaries didn't list medical marijuana on their business license applications either.

“It's either all or none,” she said.

Overton said she expected the issue to keep coming back, and asked for a roundtable discussion to look at the legal aspects.

Simons agreed. “There's been a mistake made here.”

He suggested someone will have to come up with the money to cover Byrd's losses if she's shut down. Neiman said she has the option of filing a claim. “And then we'll fight her,” said Simons.

Leonard said he wished the city could easily have medical marijuana cooperatives working in the city. He called the Compassionate Use Act “a nightmare,” and said the fact that Byrd's business license wasn't filled out correctly was a problem for him.

Council member Judy Thein asked Neiman if they could close down the other dispensaries. He replied that it was unclear.

Overton said she wanted clarification from Subramanian on whether or not a city can enforce federal law.

Giambruno said he had a problem with the way the business was licensed, and questioned why the license application didn't go to McClain, who could have stopped it early in the process.

He said he had come to the meeting with one attitude but had developed another, and he, too, asked for Subramanian to get involved and review the situation.

Simons moved to table the issue until they could have a roundtable discussion with Subramanian. Overton seconded, but they were defeated by the rest of the council, who wanted Subramanian involved but didn't want a roundtable.

Leonard then moved to deny the appeal, which died without a second.

Simons again moved to table the discussion until the council could discuss the matter with legal counsel, which was approved 4-1, with Leonard dissenting.

Neiman said while the discussion is tabled, Byrd's appeal is in place, which will allow her to keep operating.

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

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The council will meet at 6 p.m. at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

Liz Byrd, owner of Lakeside Herbal Solutions on Mullen Avenue says she'll be at Thursday night's meeting to ask that the council overturn the decision by city staff to pull her business license because she is selling medical marijuana.

Byrd, whose dispensary opened in late October, became involved with medical marijuana after she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia seven years ago. She says the medicinal use of marijuana has allowed her to stop using all of her other drugs.

A businesswoman who formerly owned the consignment shop From You to Me, Byrd said she wanted to create a comfortable, professional setting for medical marijuana patients to get their medicine, so she set about opening Lakeside Herbal Solutions, which resembles a doctor's office.

Even before she opened her doors she had patients ready to seek her services, including one who drives to Clearlake twice a month from Sacramento. Byrd said 35 percent of her clients are terminally ill cancer patients.

But since she opened city officials have alleged that Byrd got her license surreptitiously, without listing on her business license application her intention to sell medical marijuana.

Earlier this year, a temporary citywide moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries within the city limits expired, said Clearlake Police Chief Allan McClain.

The moratorium was passed the previous year, said McClain, in the hope that a federal court would come to a consensus as to who ultimately has jurisdiction – federal, state or local agencies – on medical marijuana, which has become a thorny issue for law enforcement due to the conflict between state and federal law.

The council decided that existing medical dispensaries – such as D&M Compassion Center – would be allowed to continue operating, but new dispensaries wouldn't be permitted, McClain said.

In the mean time, that hoped-for clarity from the courts didn't come, and when the moratorium came up earlier this year, the council let it expire, said McClain. Instead, they decided that their current ordinance – which states that the city can't issue a business license for any activity that violates local, state or federal law – would suffice.

Byrd opened the fourth week of October, and a few weeks later Dave Moses addressed the City Council during the public comment period of its Nov. 13 meeting.

He accused the city of being unfair in not granting him a business license for a medical marijuana dispensary he wanted to open. He said he had filled out the business license application and returned it to the city, only to be told he needed to fill out a new version of the form that had a new box added to it that asked, “Is any current or future activity of this business in violation of ANY federal, state or local laws, regulations or rules?”

Moses – whose brother Ken Estes had his Holistic Solutions dispensary raided in May by local and federal authorities – accused Byrd's dispensary of not having a proper business license.

McClain replied to Moses at that time that the city knew about Byrd's dispensary and was taking steps to begin the revocation process. He had already sent a memo to city Finance Director Michael Vivrette, whose responsibility it is to revoke business licenses.

About the time Moses lodged his protest with the council, Vivrette had prepared a letter to Byrd about the the city's plans to revoke her license to operate, McClain told Lake County News.

McClain said his department verified that Byrd was selling medical marijuana and warned her about it. Byrd said McClain and a lieutenant came to visit her a few days before her opening.

Byrd said she was completely upfront with city staff when she applied for her business license earlier this year. “The city knew exactly what my intentions were because I never lied to anybody.”

She said she spoke to three city employees, including McClain, to make sure she had done everything correctly.

Byrd also said that one city staff member told her not to reference medical marijuana in her business description, but to instead say “holistic” when describing her services. “What did they think holistic meant?”

Byrd said all the city would have had to do was say “no” and she wouldn't have moved forward with opening.

“I've done nothing but be completely, utterly and brutally honest with everybody,” she said.

McClain and city officials deny that any staff member instructed Byrd on filling out the form by not accurately describing her business. He told the council at the Nov. 13 meeting that an internal investigation by a department head determined Byrd's allegation wasn't true.

In his report to the council for the Thursday meeting, McClain said he's tried to reconcile “the differing opinions of events leading up to the issuance of a business license to Liz Byrd, but staff and Liz Byrd remember the event happening differently.”

Byrd says she's willing to take a lie detector test to prove her case. “Say anything but don't call me a liar,” she said, asserting that the city is protecting itself at her expense.

She said she's spoken to Americans for Safe Access and other groups that advocate for medical marijuana to get guidance on her situation. When she attends the council meeting she'll be accompanied by supporters, fellow business owners and attorney Bill McPike, who specializes in medical marijuana cases.

McPike attended the Nov. 13 meeting with Moses, warning the council that there has been no court decision by state or US district courts, or even by the US Supreme Court, that has overturned California's medical marijuana laws, which spring from 1996's Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act.

He added that Attorney General Jerry Brown's medical marijuana enforcement guidelines for local and state law enforcement agencies, issued in August, say they have no duty to enforce federal law.

McClain's report to the council explains that the city faces a potential lawsuit from Byrd if they turn her appeal down; if it changes its policies to allow medical marijuana dispensaries, the city could be in violation of state and federal laws.

If the council doesn't grant Byrd's appeal, McClain told Lake County News that his department would begin citing her for operating without a business license.

Byrd said she may sue if she starts getting hit by fines. “If it needs to go to battle, I think that we're prepares to do that,” she said, adding that filing a lawsuit isn't what she wants to do.

“I'm just fed up with it, and I just want it resolved, and I don't want it resolved that our patients are going to suffer,” she said.

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

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The big three – Cristallago, Provinsalia and Valley Oaks – have been on the drawing boards for years, and this month they're the subject of public hearings and newly released reports.

On Thursday, Mark Mitchell and Matt Boeger's proposed Cristallago project's draft environmental impact report will be the subject of a public hearing before the Lake County Planning Commission.

The hearing, at 11 a.m. Thursday in the board chambers at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport, is only meant for public comment; the commission isn't scheduled to take action.

The draft report currently is in the midst of a 45-day public review period, which ends Dec. 29.

Jim Burns, who represents the project's development team, took a presentation on Cristallago to the Lakeport City Council last month in order to update them on where the project is now and adjustments to its scope.

Cristallago, slated to be located two and a half miles north of the city of Lakeport and just west of Highway 29, is designed as a mixed-use development community on 862 acres, 576 of which would be maintained as open space with 366 dedicated in perpetuity as a nature preserve, according to its current draft environmental document.

As proposed it would combine 650 single-family residential units and 325 resort units, an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, 25,000-square-foot clubhouse, community activity center, vista spa, restaurant and conference facility.

The developers propose to plant organic olive trees at the entry ways and also use the trees to buffer the residential areas for them golf course and as fixtures of the development's landscaping. They would use the olives to produce Cristallago brand Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

The city of Lakeport has so far not taken any action to give formal support to the project. County Community Development Director Rick Coel said Tuesday that he also hasn't received any comments from the city pertaining to the draft environmental impact report.

Meanwhile in the south county there is the Provinsalia project, proposed by Lake County Resort Partners Inc., headed by Mexican businessman Jorge Rangel de Alba.

Provinsalia is proposed to be built on 292 acres along Cache Creek within the Clearlake city limits. It would consist of 565 single family homes, 100 condominium units and a nine-hole golf course.

The first of two meetings to receive public comment on its draft environmental impact report, as well as rezoning and general plan amendment proposals, took place Dec. 2 before the Clearlake Planning Commission, as Lake County News has reported.

The commission will continue discussing the project, and hear more comments from community members, at a meeting to take place at Clearlake City Hall at 6 p.m. Dec. 16. At that point it is expected to decide whether or not to send a proposal to the Clearlake City Council to certify the draft environmental impact report and approve the rezone and general plan amendment.

Now, just within the last week, Valley Oaks – proposed by developer Ken Porter – also is on deck, with the release of its draft environmental impact report, which can be found at the county government's Web site, www.co.lake.ca.us.

Valley Oaks would be built along Highway 29 next to Hidden Valley Lake on what is called the Arabian horse ranch property.

The draft document explains that the proposed development would include 380 single-family dwellings on lots with a minimum size of 6,000 square feet, 53 senior living/multi-family residential units, a residential care facility with 49 beds and approximately 55 medium density residential units at 15 units per acre.

A commercial area would include five separate villages ranging from approximately 2.37 acres to 11.07 acres in size and would include retail, a theater, and office and commercial land uses. There also would be parks, open space, and recreational opportunities, including hiking and biking trails.

Porter proposes to build Valley Oaks in six phases, with both water and wastewater facilities supplied by the Hidden Valley Lake Community Services District.

The report said the project would require realigning the existing Coyote Creek corridor to avoid removal of mature oak trees and the arch pipe under Hartmann Road near the confluence of Coyote and Gallagher creeks.

Coel said the public comment period for Valley Oaks started on Dec. 1 with the state clearinghouse. He said the county is extending the comment period due to delays in getting the draft document copies circulated locally.

That means the minimum 45-day comment period would end Jan. 23.

Coel said no hearing before the county Planning Commission has been scheduled, but he said a Jan. 22, 2009, date for a first hearing is probable and will be confirmed by the end of next week.

The environmental impact reports for Cristallago and Provinsalia have both drawn criticism by area groups and residents.

At the Dec. 2 Clearlake Planning Commission meeting, commissioners hear numerous complaints about the Provinsalia document.

Sierra Club member Debra Sally warned that it was incomplete and could expose the city to legal liability. Board of Supervisors Chair Ed Robey also faulted the report for its omissions.

Early criticism of the thick Cristallago document includes a letter sent to Community Development on Dec. 3 by archaeologist Dr. John Parker.

Parker's five-page letter faults the report for not completing a completing archaeological inspection of the project area. Based on his past research in the Clear Lake Basin, Parker estimates that the entire Cristallago site should contain 4.9 prehistoric archaeological sites.

“The fact that no prehistoric sites were discovered by the archaeological inspection team flies in the face of the statistical average for the Lake Basin as a whole,” he said, which is more a reflection of the archaeologist's sampling design than their skill.

Because of the archaeological inspection's small sample nature, Parker said it's impossible to discuss potential impacts or mitigation alternatives needed to address historic resources.

Parker points out that, based on the California Environmental Quality Act, an environmental impact report can't be certified until all archaeological resources have been identified, their significance has been determined based on Public Resources Code, potential impacts on cultural resources have been identified, and alternatives for lessening or eliminating impacts have been listed.

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

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The Board of Supervisors will consider adopting a proclamation on Tuesday declaring a local emergency in response to the announcement late last month that Upper Blue Lake, Cache Creek, Indian Valley Reservoir and Pillsbury Reservoir will not be stocked by the program this year.

“Our proclamation essentially asks the Department of Fish and Game to do everything they can to expand upon the court order,” said County Counsel Anita Grant. “At this juncture, all we can do is ask.”

The lawsuit, filed by the Pacific Rivers Council and the Center for Biological Diversity, is based on the Department of Fish and Game stocking bodies of water around the state with nonnative fish, while having completed no environmental impact report.

Fish and Game spokesperson Jordan Traverso said the agency has been carrying out the fish stocking program for more than a century. Traverso noted this is one of a number of suits the Center for Biological Diversity has filed against the agency.

In its statement on the case, the Stanford Environmental Law Clinic – which is representing the plaintiffs pro bono – says the petitioners approached the agency in August 2005 to ask that an environmental review of the fish stocking program be undertaken, and to cease stocking fishery-raised nonnatives, which it said results in significant effects on native species.

That initial request, the clinic added, was supported by about 100 scientific studies – including some conducted by Fish and Game itself – that demonstrate the adverse impacts of stocking activities on various native species.

Some of the species of concern are the arroyo toad and California red-legged frog, the golden trout, winter- and spring-run chinook salmon, and summer-run steelhead trout, according to court documents.

A statement from the Center for Biological Diversity said that trout stocking can impact native species in a variety of ways. Because the fish are top-level predators in aquatic ecosystems, they prey on many native amphibians and fish, and compete with native species for food and space.

Trout stocking also may be a vector for introducing diseases, such as whirling disease and chytrid fungus, which are reportedly wiping out native amphibian species globally, according to the group. The stocking practice also can bring in invasive species like the New Zealand mud snail.

When Fish and Game didn't respond, the petitioners said they made a second request for action in mid-2006. After receiving still no response, the lawsuit was filed in Sacramento County Superior Court in October 2006.

Traverso said that she didn't know if the agency hadn't in fact responded. “It does not sound likely to me.”

A full trial in May 2007 ended with a verdict requiring Fish and Game to prepare the environmental impact report. At that time, the agency reportedly told the court that it could complete the document by Dec. 31, 2008.

Traverso said that, despite the fact that the California Environmental Quality Act requirements came along about 85 years after the stocking programs got started – and the fact that the agency had done years of monitoring – the court's decision made it clear that the program wasn't grandfathered in.

This spring, Fish and Game notified the court that delays in the process meant they wouldn't meet the end-of-year date. A Fish and Game statement said it's engaged “in the years-long and multimillion dollar EIR process,” which is now scheduled to be completed in January 2010.

At the start of November, Judge Patrick Marlette placed an injunction on the program, said Traverso, which would have shut down the entire operation.

Fish and Game asked for a chance to negotiate, and at the start of last month Marlette ordered Fish and Game and the suit's plaintiffs to negotiate where the agency could continue fish stocking as it prepares both a state environmental impact report and a federal environmental impact statement. Traverso said the federal report is necessary because the federal US Fish and Wildlife is involved with the state's program.

The result of the negotiation was a Nov. 21 order by Marlette allowing for more waters to be stocked than would have been stocked originally, said Traverso.

The agreement prohibits stocking fish in any fresh body of water in California where 25 particular amphibian or fish species have been detected, or where surveys haven't been done, according to Fish and Game.

Exceptions include stocking in manmade reservoirs larger than 1,000 acres; manmade reservoirs less than 1,000 acres that are not connected to a river or stream, or are not within red-legged frog critical habitat or where red-legged frogs are known to exist; stocking as required as state or federal mitigation; stocking for the purpose of enhancing salmon and steelhead populations and funded by the Commercial Trollers Salmon Stamp; stocking of steelhead from the Mad River Hatchery into the Mad River Basin; Fish and Game's Aquarium in the Classroom program; stocking actions to support scientific research; stocking done pursuant to an existing private stocking permit or to be done under a new permit with terms similar to one that was issued in the last four years.

Less than 20 percent of previously stocked water bodies were estimated to be affected, according to the plaintiffs.

Grant said most of the county's concerns revolve around trout fishing.

Stafford Lehr, a senior environmental scientist in Fish and Game's North Central Region office in Rancho Cordova, said the agency has released fingerlings and rainbow trout into the into area waters.

In Upper Blue Lake and Lake Pillsbury, the fish are catchable rainbow trout, each weighing about a half pound and measuring 12 to 14 inches in length, Lehr said. Indian Valley Reservoir also gets the trout, along with Kokanee fingerlings.

Cache Creek, Lehr added, receives brown trout fingerlings, measuring from 2 to 4 inches long.

The fish are sourced from 21 hatcheries around the state, Lehr said. The rainbow trout are released during the peak recreation season, anywhere from February through Labor Day if the waters remain cool enough. The fingerlings, spawned in the fall, are usually released in the spring.

None of the fish ever go into Clear Lake, said Lehr. “Clear lake is a warm water bass fishery.”

Grant said the county is concerned about tourism and the environmental impact that not stocking the fish could have on the area's exceptional bird life. “A lot of our bird species may be hard-pressed.”

Lehr said eagles and ospreys do forage on trout at reservoirs, but he can't say if they would be affected in this instance.

Traverso doubted that Fish and Game can do anything in response to the county's emergency proclamation.

“This is not a mater of the department making a decision,” Traverso said. “This is a court decision that the department is required by law to adhere to.”

The lists of impacted water bodies are subject to change, Traverso added, noting that the areas could be surveyed and removed from the lists if the species of concern aren't located.

Grant said the county has received anecdotal information that Upper Blue Lake is too cold for one particular frog species.

In this case, negotiations may have to be reopened, said Traverso, and the plaintiffs would have to be willing to do so.

A call to the Stanford Environmental Law Clinic yielded no answer on whether or not that's a possibility.

“There are a number of communities that have absolutely become reliant on our stocking programs for tourism,” said Traverso.

That appears to be a concern for Lake County.

Grant said not stocking the fish could have not just a potential environmental impact, but could become an economic issue at a time when a county like Lake can least afford it.

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

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