How to resolve AdBlock issue? LAKEPORT, Calif. — This week the Guenoc Valley Mixed Use Planned Development Project will make its return to the Lake County Planning Commission, which will consider whether or not to approve the project’s new environmental documents and recommend possible zoning changes to the Board of Supervisors.
The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Thursday, July 24, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The agenda is here.
To participate in real-time, join the Zoom meeting by clicking this link.
The webinar ID is 994 1760 2765, the pass code is 155982.
Access the meeting via one tap mobile at +16699006833,,99417602765#,,,,*155982# or dial in at 669-900-6833 or 1-669-444-9171.
The meeting also can be viewed on the county’s website or Facebook page.
The Planning Commission’s main item of business at the Thursday meeting is a public hearing to consider certifying a new final environmental impact report, or EIR, for the project, as well as make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors about changes to the Lake County General Plan, the Middletown Area Plan and the Lake County Zoning Ordinance.
The project will be built on a portion of what’s known in the planning documents as the “Guenoc Valley Site,” which consists of 82 existing parcels covering approximately 16,000 acres located in southeastern Lake County near Middletown.
The property has been owned since 2016 by Chinese developer Yiming Xu and his firm, Lotusland Investment Holdings of San Francisco. Lotusland also is the project’s applicant.
While Lotusland’s holdings also include Langtry Farms — once owned by famed English actress Lillie Langtry — county planning documents state that the Guenoc Valley Site does not include the approximately 360 acres which contains the Langtry winery and the Lillie Langtry estate home.
The project’s first EIR was certified in 2020. In June of that year, the Lake County Planning Commission voted to approve forwarding the ultra-luxury resort plan to the Board of Supervisors, which approved it the following month.
In the form approved by the board, the project, which also has been known as Maha Guenoc Valley, included a first phase covering a 1,415-acre footprint that was slated to include 385 residential villas in five subdivisions; five boutique hotels with 127 hotel units and 141 resort residential cottages; 20 campsites; up to 100 workforce housing co-housing units; resort amenities such as an outdoor entertainment area, spa and wellness amenities, sports fields, equestrian areas, a new golf course and practice facility, camping area and commercial and retail facilities; agricultural production and support facilities; essential accessory facilities, including back of house facilities; 50 temporary workforce hotel units; emergency response and fire center, float plane dock, helipads; and supporting infrastructure, according to planning documents.
In September 2020, the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Native Plant Society sued the county over the project, with the California Attorney General’s Office intervening in support of their suit.
That led to a 2021 trial in Lake County Superior Court before Judge J. David Markham who, in a January 2022 decision, found that the county’s EIR on the project was insufficient due to its conclusions that community fire evacuation routes were “less than significant.”
Markham ordered the county to rescind the project approvals because the EIR omitted disclosure and analysis of the project’s impacts on wildfire evacuation and public safety.
While Markham’s ruling resulted in a new EIR needing to be created, late last year, the California First District Appellate Court also ruled in the matter, taking action to additionally order a new EIR. Its ruling went further than Markham’s because the appellate court determined that the county failed to assess how the project would worsen existing wildfire risks.
Staff’s report to the Planning Commission explains that, at full buildout, throughout multiple phases, the resort project would allow for the development of up to 400 hotel rooms, 450 resort residential units, 1,400 residential estates, and 500 workforce co-housing units within the zoning district.
The project’s phase one includes the phased subdivision to allow up to 385 residential villas, 141 resort residential units, 147 hotel units, accessory resort and commercial uses; a subdivision and rezoning of an off-site parcel to accommodate 21 single family residences with optional accessory dwelling units, 29 duplex units in 15 structures, and a community clubhouse and associated infrastructure; a proposed water supply well on an off-site parcel and pipeline located adjacent to and within Butts Canyon Road, along with intersection and electrical transmission line improvements.
Project modifications, as outlined in the staff report, include the following:
• Relocating 25 residential building sites that the 2020 project would have located on a hilltop near the proposed Equestrian Center and 39 residential building sites that the 2020 project would have located within the northeastern portion of the project site to move them further from the wildland/urban interface.
• A new proposed emergency route called the Grange Road Connector will connect the Guenoc Valley Site with the county-maintained Grange Road to the north.
• Reconfiguring the roadway plan so that there are no dead-end, non-looped road segments that exceed one mile in length.
• Improving an area of approximately 10 feet on each side of roadways with hardscape, to the extent topography permits.
• Removal of the camping area in the northern portion of the property.
• Funding and staffing commitments for the onsite emergency response center.
• Various renewable energy commitments and greenhouse gas reduction measures that will not change the development footprint.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
