How to resolve AdBlock issue? Supervisor Rob Brown first presented the plan in the fall, holding town halls in November and February, and bringing the matter forward for discussion to the Board of Supervisors.
The newly formed benefit zones cover 5,000 lots in the Clear Lake Riviera, Buckingham, Riviera West and Riviera Heights, as well as lots adjacent to them, within County Service Area No. 23.
The plan calls for 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. Those payments are expected to raise about $500,000 that would be used for property cleanup.
Brown said properties that are cleaned up would have liens placed against them to recover the money in order for the program to continue to be funded and active.
The funds won’t actually start to come in until the next property tax payments are made in December. In the meantime, Brown said he has approval from County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson for a $100,000 loan from the general fund to get work started immediately, in an effort to get ahead of the fast-approaching fire season.
Brown has said the program will emphasize voluntary adherence.
The board approved moving forward on the plan in January and the ballots were later sent out to property owners as required by Proposition 218, a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1996 that requires taxpayers be allowed to vote on assessments, general taxes and certain types of user fees, with a 50 percent plus one majority vote required for passage.
At the board’s March 26 meeting, it held protest hearings for each of the proposed benefit zones and confirmed that each passed in its respective community. The updated ballot tabulations given at Tuesday’s meeting are as follows.
Buckingham
Total ballots returned: 405
Yes: 252 (62 percent)
No: 153 (37.7 percent)
Clear Lake Riviera
Total ballots returned: 1,170
Yes: 654 (55.8 percent)
No: 516 (44 percent)
Riviera Heights
Total ballots returned: 315
Yes: 173 (54.9 percent)
No: 142 (45 percent)
Riviera West
Total ballots returned: 267
Yes: 181 (67.7 percent)
No: 86 (32 percent)
Simple majority votes were required for all of the communities to approve the zones of benefit.
During the March protest hearings, a community member raised issue with the ballot envelopes not having “Official Ballot Enclosed” printed on them in large type.
County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson told the board that county staff opined that the conditions of the vote had been substantially met, and that voters had been informed of the vote through numerous avenues – including the town halls Brown hosted. Her written report also cited press releases, news stories and the outreach by the homeowners associations.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier noted during the discussion that the percentage of return on the ballots issued to all parcels was 64 percent for Buckingham, 46 percent for Riviera Heights, 54 percent in Riviera West and 41 percent for Clear Lake Riviera.
Sabatier noted that those numbers are within the range that they would typically see in elections, and overall a “pretty good result.”
Brown separately moved to offer the resolutions to form the benefit zones for the four communities, with the board approving each unanimously.
Later on Tuesday, Brown told Lake County News that he’s already compiled a list of about two dozen properties – with the help of the Kelseyville Fire Protection District and the Clear Lake Riviera – with vegetation that needs to be abated.
He said he sent that list of properties to Community Development Director Michalyn DelValle about two weeks ago.
“I’m hoping that most of them will come into compliance without our involvement,” Brown said.
Brown said the county has to move quickly, as it can’t do the abatement work during fire season, which is set to start on May 15.
“The window is pretty slim now,” he said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
