How to resolve AdBlock issue? Supervisor Rob Brown initially put forward the plan in a community meeting in the fall before bringing it to the board earlier this month.
The plan is to create the benefits zones encompassing 5,000 lots in the Clear Lake Riviera, Buckingham, Riviera West and Riviera Heights, as well as lots adjacent to them, all of which are within County Service Area No. 23.
A one-time payment of $100 per lot for properties of less than one acre, $200 for lots from one to five acres, and $300 for lots of five acres or more, would raise an estimated $500,000 that could then be used to clean up properties to prevent wildland fire. Any properties cleaned up would then be assessed liens, which would pay back the program.
While the program would cover 5,000 lots, Brown said the funds would be used on only about 50 to 100 that need to be cleaned up.
Brown said the program also is meant to protect county infrastructure, as wildland fires can significantly damage roadways. “As a result of nine major disasters in an approximate three-year period in Lake County, the County has experienced significant damage to its roadways, guardrails, and signage,” he wrote in a memo to the board.
While the board voted to move accept the resolutions, under the auspices of Proposition 218, the ultimate decision will be up to voters in the impacted areas.
Bill Groody, president of the Buckingham Homeowners Association, voiced support for the plan.
“We’ve canvassed our community and there is widespread support there,” Groody said. “In fact, the only objection was that people seem to feel we weren’t asking for enough money.”
Groody said the association has identified 18 problem lots, with owners either not reached or not able to keep in compliance. He said most are along Soda Bay Road, and they have notified six or seven other lots adjacent to community where there are enforcement problems. Groody said the program would be helpful with getting people to comply.
Brown said he and Groody met with the Bureau of Land Management and others about the proposal. As a result of the meeting, BLM is interested in putting together its own program to do maintenance and clearing in some areas, including the Black Forest.
Groody added that four of the lots that he’s identified as needing attention are owned by the government – two of them belonging to the BLM and a few others by the county.
He said automobile-related issues have been factors in four major fires along Soda Bay Road in the past five years, adding that his association considers clearing the Soda Bay Road corridor to be very important from the perspectives of escape and prevention.
Riviera Heights resident Julie Richardson had another take on the plan.
“It’s a good idea in theory, but it needs to not be limited to the homeowners associations,” she said.
Richardson was concerned that it’s a duplication of effort, as she said Riviera Heights already does annual inspections of lots and requires owners to abate any issues.
Tom Nixon, a retired park ranger and 33-year resident of the Clear Lake Riviera, is a former president of that community’s homeowners association. He said he’s been involved in fire prevention efforts for some time, and noted the association has done a lot of preventive work in the past four years. “But there’s still a whole lot that needs to be done.”
He recalled working with Brown and Public Works Director Scott De Leon several years ago on a benefit zone for roads, which fixed three and a half miles by taxing homeowners association members.
“These county service areas, these public benefit zones, work. It’s us partnering together to try to get something done. And I think it’s a blueprint for how we can get things done in this county” – not just in homeowners associations but in other communities, Nixon said.
“People are willing to do it because people are scared to death,” he added, asking for the board’s support.
Brown clarified during the discussion that no government-owned lots would be assessed, nor would funding from the assessments be used to clean them, as the government that owns those properties will be required to pay for the cleanup.
Supervisor Moke Simon questioned the cost to put the proposals before voters and the impact on county staff.
“Do I support the idea? Absolutely,” he said, adding that he thought it could be handled in collaboration with a newly formed fire risk reduction authority.
Brown said he’s asking the county for a one-time loan of $100,000 to cover the election and other startup costs that would be reimbursed out of payments if the benefit zones are approved.
He said he had put in about 120 hours on the plan, and that he was trying to minimize the use of staff time.
County Counsel Anita Grant said the benefit zone election is not through the county’s elections department, so it doesn’t carry the steep price tag of going on a formal ballot.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier thanked Brown for bringing the idea forward and trying to do something. “I think that this is a great program to start with,” he said, adding that the program’s future scope is the entire county.
Sabatier also wanted to see the program work with the new fire risk authority as a way of guaranteeing the effort has longevity.
Grant said the board could ask the new fire joint powers authority to review the success of the program and determine whether to implement some simple programs countywide and make some recommendations to that effect. “So absolutely these things can dovetail and one entity can work with another to achieve this.”
Brown offered the resolutions for each of the four communities. Each resolution received a 4-1 vote, with Simon voting no on each.
It’s expected the ballots will begin to be sent out in the coming weeks in order to get the program under way before the summer fire season, should voters approve it.
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