Opinion
The timeline provided at that meeting was:
– Land acquisition (including California Environmental Quality Act documents): July 2009 to July 2011.
– Preliminary plans: Oct 2011 to May 2012.
– Working drawings: May 2012 to January 2013.
– Construction: May 2013 to January 2015.
The city of Lakeport stepped up immediately and identified 26 locations, 25 of which were within the City limits.
The consensus of the committee was to keep the new courthouse in the downtown area, close by the current courthouse. Point of clarification: Courthouse (new) is for all the court-related offices; courthouse (current) contains all the court related offices on the fourth floor plus other county departments.
Only the fourth floor offices in the current courthouse will be moving to the new courthouse location. Unfortunately, none of the downtown sites were considered appropriate for the new building, some primarily due to flood plain issues.
The land has been purchased and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) completed on the property at 675 Lakeport Blvd., just below the Lake County Chamber/Visitor Center office.
We have seen two sets of preliminary drawings from two different architects to date. I have referred to them as “less than preliminary” as they do not reflect anything close to what the final design will be. We do know that the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) has a preference for the “north scheme” location versus the “south scheme” location.
The “north scheme” will place the building immediately in front of the visitor center parking lot and the building will extend to 10 feet above the parking lot surface. In addition, it will be 90 to 100 feet wide. In my personal estimation, all visitors to the center will lose approximately 70 percent or more of the view that has been enjoyed by thousands of residents and visitors over the past many decades.
The south scheme preferred by most of us on the committee, will lose only the view of the bottom of Prayer Hill and a portion of the lake toward Konocti Vista Casino, leaving a clear view of Mt. Konocti and all the rest of the view we now enjoy.
The two points of preference for the AOC for the north scheme: the building needs to be prominently in view of the public and the south scheme requires a “u turn” in the driveway up to the parking lot, which they feel will be too difficult for fire equipment, buses, etc.
The chamber’s position is that the south scheme ‘u turn’ is a non-issue as the fire department has standard safety requirements for turning radius when it comes to streets, driveways, etc. Fire equipment should be the largest vehicle to use that driveway and thus all other vehicles would have no issue making the turn.
As to visibility of the building to the public eye, many public buildings use large monument signs to alert the public to the presence of these buildings. One of these on Lakeport Boulevard will certainly accomplish that goal as the public travels on this main thoroughfare.
Vista Point Visitor Center is a historical community icon which clearly provides an exceptional view of the north bay of Clear Lake. To obliterate that view will have a definite impact on all our visitors and residents.
While the AOC has its standard requirements and I certainly appreciate working to your standards, those standards relate to more metropolitan areas where “sense of community” has a very different meaning. We have a treasured sense of community in Lake County that means more to us and our visitors than the standards identified by the AOC.
Bottom line: We need this new courthouse, if you’ve ever been on the fourth floor of the courthouse for jury duty or other reasons, it’s like being in the middle of a herd of cattle in a pen. It’s amazing to all of us that our little Lake County project is No. 8 out of 41 in the entire state.
We need to keep it moving forward as it will provide benefits to our communities and residents far into the future. We must protect the view and we must have the courthouse, I firmly believe we can have it all.
Melissa Fulton is chief executive officer of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, based in Lakeport, Calif.
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- Written by: Melissa Fulton
Our family would like to say thank you to everyone who helped with Frank's memorial; those who prayed for strength, comfort and healing for the family and especially his son, Parker. To all of the people who sent emails, letters, cards and flowers, we want to thank you all for your kind words.
We would like to thank all of the people who brought food to our home and to all of the people who brought food to the memorial. In addition to all of the friends and family members who supplied pictures, videos and other materials for the memorial, thank you!
The outpouring of support that we received for his service is something that every Lake County citizen should be proud of, the loss of dedicated servant to the community was shown by the hundreds who participated in the services, from the procession to the memorial.
There is not a day goes by that someone tells me how much they miss and loved Frankie. The love that people had for Frankie was unbelievable. So many people came to us during those first few weeks; I really don’t think Frankie knew just how much people really loved and appreciated him.
It was common to hear from his closest friends that Frank was their “best friend.” Time and time again I would hear from his friends and they would say, “Frankie was my best friend.” Frankie was a best friend to so many.
As parents, we were and still are so proud of Frank. Frankie was and still is a great father; he still is because of all the wonderful things he taught his son Parker, everything he taught him lives on in Parker today. Because of this, Parker is smart, loving and he looks just like his daddy.
To everyone who has lost someone they love, my heart goes out to you. I know the pain you feel. Someone once told me that time will help, but really time just makes the pain different. When something goes wrong in our lives, Parker would say, “This ain't nothing,” making reference to the fact that the little things that go wrong in everyday life are nothing, in comparison to losing his daddy and mommy.
We want to say thank you to all people who showed and shared their love of Frankie, thank you!
During these difficult times, we find that the most helpful thing others can do is on a spiritual level. Thank you for all the prayers for Parker and our family; you don’t know how much this really means to us, thank you and we love each and every one of you.
One of the most difficult things for Jim and I was the thought of will we be physically and mentally able to raised Parker, he being 7 and us being 64? Oh my God, what did I do?
However, that thought was only a blur and now looking at this, we see Parker as a blessing from God to us. We think younger, we feel younger and well, we live younger. We laugh more; we are always on the go, from sun up to way past sun down. Are we going to be OK? Yes, Frank will see to that.
My faith in God went very low. I hated him for a while, but then I realized he was still with me or I would not have made it this far. I still cry and I always will and I am OK with that, because I know in my heart that Frankie is safe and happy; he wants us to be the same.
What happens when you lose someone? At first you can’t believe what has happened, you pray to God to bring them back, thinking that God must have made a mistake. Why?
Will the pain go away? No. Can I go on living? Yes! Will I ever be happy again? Yes! Does anyone care? Yes, people do care. Can we laugh again? Yes!
To love and honor someone you have lost, is to live again. Our Frankie would want and he would demand his family and friends live for him. Laugh, love, sing, cry, dance and, most of all, smile – he did!
Sue Burton is writing on behalf of the Burton and Toney families. She lives in Clearlake Oaks, Calif.
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- Written by: Sue Burton
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