Opinion
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
NCA designation is not a plot, but a conservation tool, designed with the primary aim of facilitating collaborative planning and management strategies among the various public agencies controlling portions of a sensitive area, and providing a mechanism for private landowners in that area to voice their concerns and establish an effective partnership with those public owners in order to further common goals.
Contrary to the impression Indrieri may have conveyed, it does not establish additional layers of bureaucracy, restrict the powers of local government, or impose any burdens whatsoever upon private landowners, whose participation is entirely voluntary. Far from being a "deceptive land grab" plotted by malign outside forces bent on furthering a hidden "environmental agenda," NCA designation has as one of its central objectives the enhancement of the economic viability of the privately owned working landscape by increasing opportunities to obtain conservation easements, watershed improvement grants, and subsidiary recreational income. Private owners who would prefer to pass up these benefits are completely free to do so.
Two nuggets of truth are buried in Indrieri's strange melange of innuendo and false assertions: she's quite right in stating that NCA designation can be expected to bring additional money to the area, to the benefit of surrounding gateway communities as well as public and private landowners within the Conservation Area itself. And she's also right in suggesting that members of the public should take steps to inform themselves about the proposal.
A good place to start would be to check out the information – including maps and photographs – that is available on the local Sierra Club website at http://redwood.sierraclub.org/lake/brbnca.htm.
Victoria Brandon is chair of the Sierra Club Lake Group.
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- Written by: Kevin Goodwin
I write in opposition to the proposed Eachus View Estates subdivision and rezoning. There is no proven need for the subdivision of the existing agricultural property into four small suburban residential parcels with one remaining agricultural parcel.
I do not object to Mark Mitchell’s right to use his property consistent with the law. However, the property that Mr. Mitchell purchased in late 2005 is a single 90-acre property zoned for agricultural use. He has every right to use that property consistent with the existing zoning and the law. However, he now wishes to change that property into something new and fundamentally different: five pieces of property, four suburban residential parcels and one remaining agricultural piece. Before the county allows that change in the nature of Mr. Mitchell’s property it must determine whether it is in the public interest to do so. Obviously, Mr. Mitchell wants to make the change so that he can sell off the parcels and make money. However, his desire to profit from his 2005 purchase does not in any way automatically show any community need to subdivide the land and change the applicable zoning. The board must determine whether adding four suburban residential lots to the existing inventory of such lots in the County advances the public interest; it cannot consider only the very private economic interest of Mr. Mitchell.
The first question the board must ask is whether there is a shortage of existing undeveloped suburban residential lots, or the “product” to use Mr. Mitchell’s terminology, in the North Lakeport area. If there is an adequate stock of one to five acre lots, which appears to be the case and which Staff can readily confirm, then the subdivision does nothing positive for the county and its residents. All the effects are negative for everyone but Mr. Mitchell.
If, and only if, there is a significant shortage of existing home sites available for development, then the board can debate whether adding such types of properties outside the North Lakeport Community Growth Boundary is good public policy and makes good sense for the county as a whole.
Of course, as clearly developed before the Planning Commission and in the Jan. 15 hearing, it makes no sense whatsoever to subdivide agricultural lands outside the Community Growth Boundary. It makes no sense to the community to tax the aquifer and add new septic systems rather than tie to existing water and sewage treatment systems. It makes no sense to the community to take existing agricultural land and turn it permanently into suburban lots. It makes no sense to the community to jerrymander lots with inadequate buffers to future agricultural uses in the area. Even if there is an existing shortage of suburban residential lots, it still does not call for expanding suburban growth into agricultural areas. If there is such a shortage, I submit that we can count on the market to bring lots within the growth boundaries to the Planning Commission in the future.
There was considerable discussion on the Jan. 15 hearing on whether your decision in this matter would form some kind of precedent. Of course it would. As the legislative body in Lake County, all actions of the Board of Supervisors are precedent. As the owner of an agricultural property in Scotts Valley, I am very concerned about any actions that ignore the fundamental planning concept of restricting suburban growth to established growth boundaries. I am very concerned that allowing this development would encourage developers to look at Scotts Valley to put in two-acre ranchettes or three-acre “Scotts Creek View Estates.”
Lake County can and should grow. However, it must grow in a long-term cohesive and sustainable manner, not as poorly planned, one-off and piecemeal sprawl. Don’t set a precedent of allowing suburban sprawl. Take the long-term view. Don’t approve this expansion of suburban growth into agricultural lands and don’t put the private profit drive of a single individual over the good of the County as a whole.
Kevin Goodwin lives in Lakeport.
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- Details
- Written by: Jon Foutch, Martin Scheel, Brian Kenner, Chris Murphy and Chris Sanders
Konocti Marine Construction
Treasure Cove Pizza
Crawford’s Signs
KWINE Radio an Cherie Sharrok
Twin Cities Radio
Perfect Printers
Ukiah Music Center
Laughing Coyote Studios
Without the support from these local businesses and our fans, we would not be in the final 48 bands in the US and bound for Hollywood in the Regional Finals on March 12.
Thank you all for helping us to bus over 100 of our fans to support us in San Francisco at the last two rounds of this 4,500-band competition.
Faded At Four includes members Jon Foutch, Martin Scheel, Brian Kenner, Chris Murphy and Chris Sanders. Visit their Web site at www.fadedatfour.com.
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- Details
- Written by: Carolynn Jarrett
US News used a rigorous three-step analysis of data from the 2005-2006 school year in a formula developed by Standard and Poor's Schools Evaluation Services. The key principles of this study were that a "great high school must serve all its students well, not just those who are bound for college" and that a school must have "measurable academic outcomes that show the school is successfully educating its student body across a range of performance indicators."
Nationwide, US News identified 100 high schools at the gold level, 405 at the silver level and 1,086 at the bronze level. Lower Lake High School received a bronze award. It is the only high school in Lake County to receive recognition.
In education, it is a common assumption that demographics are destiny. Statistically, across California and the nation, schools which serve poor and minority students have lower levels of achievement. Yet here we see that Lower Lake High School is receiving national recognition for beating those odds.
In the past few years the achievements of Lower Lake High School students have been notable in many areas. In both 2007 and 2006, the Academic Decathlon team competed at state level. Last year, the football and volleyball teams were league champions. In statewide SkillsUSA competitions, Lower Lake High School vocational education students have consistently won gold, silver and bronze medals. It is clear that Lower Lake High School serves its students well.
The parents and community of the Konocti Unified School District can be rightfully proud of the staff and students at Lower Lake High School. It is the hard work, high expectations and dedication of teachers and staff, and the positive response of students, which made this latest award by US News possible. It shows that when students are encouraged and supported they can overcome the challenges and barriers of their circumstances.
Please join me in extending appreciation and congratulations to the staff and students of Lower Lake High School. Way to go, Trojans!
Carolynn Jarrett is a member of the Konocti Unified School District Board of Trustees. She lives in Clearlake.
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