How to resolve AdBlock issue? LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lakeport Planning Commission has approved an application from Safeway to subdivide the property that is the location of its 11th Street shopping center.
The commission took up the matter at its June 11 meeting.
Safeway Inc. applied to the city for a tentative parcel map to divide a lot at the Willow Tree Shopping Center into two separate legal lots located at 1071 and 979 11th St., Associate Planner Victor Fernandez told the commission.
The tentative parcel map divides the 12.15-acre shopping center into two legal parcels. Fernandez said the first parcel is approximately 4.63 acres and the second is 7.52 acres.
The project’s map shows the grocery store, located on the first parcel, is 46,885 square feet. The second parcel has the remaining commercial space including the CVS store, the Community First Credit Union building and other individual shops, totaling over 73,000 square feet.
That total doesn’t include the 3,500 square feet of the former Perko’s restaurant.
Commissioner Nathan Maxman pointed out during the discussion that the map of the property still showed the Perko’s restaurant which was demolished in February.
Safeway has owned the shopping center since 2007, taking ownership in August of that year. The Safeway store has been located at the 11th Street site since 1981.
Albertsons acquired Safeway in January of 2015. City documents showed it was Albertsons who communicated with the city for the Safeway project.
Late last year, Safeway celebrated the Lakeport store’s grand reopening, which included updates to the building and parking lot.
Fernandez’s written report to the commission explained that Safeway is pursuing the subdivision of the property “solely for administrative and operational purposes, such as facilitating financial restructuring, enabling the potential future leasing or sale of individual buildings, and allowing for greater flexibility in the long-term property management strategy.”
Fernandez said Safeway reached out to city staff in September 2024 to begin the process.
Originally, he said the company wanted to pursue dividing the property under a ministerial lot line adjustment. However, it was determined during the process that the property was one legal lot of record, with two addresses.
The changes will ultimately split the Safeway store off from the rest of the property, but nothing else will change — such as the traffic circulation.
What also will remain in place is shared infrastructure, from parking areas to drainage and utilities, Fernandez reported.
Fernandez said Utilities Director Paul Harris asked for some changes due to long running issues with the city being able to access water meters at the site. As a result, Safeway agreed to add that access to the parcel map.
He said planning staff also concluded that dividing the property is exempt under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.
Commissioner Mary Claybon offered both motions for the item — first, finding it categorically exempt, and second, that it is in compliance with the Lakeport Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance, consistent with the Subdivision Map Act and aligns with the Lakeport General Plan.
Both motions were approved in 4-0 votes, with Commissioner Mark Mitchell absent.
Fernandez told Lake County News that the Safeway lot division will need to go to the Lakeport City Council for approval before it can be finalized.
“Following the approval of the Tentative Parcel Map, and in accordance with the Subdivision Map Act, the applicant has two years from the Planning Commission approval date to obtain City Council approval of the Final Map. This next phase involves a more technical review, during which the City Engineer and City Surveyor evaluate the Final Map to ensure compliance with all applicable codes and ordinances,” he said in a Tuesday email.
As of Tuesday, Fernandez said Safeway hadn’t submitted a final parcel map application, “so we do not have an anticipated date for when it will appear before the City Council.”
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