Alan Brelsford, 39, of Santa Rosa, Calif., is a high-risk sex offender who was found on a Sonoma County, Calif., elementary school campus on Tuesday, September 26, 2017. Photo courtesy of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.
NORTH COAST, Calif. – Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies this week arrested a Santa Rosa sex registrant after he was found in a girls bathroom at a Santa Rosa elementary school.
Alan Brelsford, a 39-year-old sex registrant out of Santa Rosa, was arrested in the incident, which occurred just before 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at Redwood Adventist Academy Elementary School, according to Sgt. Spencer Crum of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.
Crum said a parent and school staff at the school found a man later identified as Brelsford inside the girls’ bathroom.
They confronted the Brelsford, who Crum said had no business being on the campus of the elementary school. Brelsford claimed he was watching a helicopter when he felt he needed to use the restroom.
Crum said school staff escorted Brelsford off the property and took a picture of his truck as he left the school parking lot. The truck was described as a lifted Chevrolet pickup with black rims.
While deputies were on campus taking the report, Brelsford drove by the school slowly again, Crum said.
Crum said the deputies spotted Brelsford’s truck and were able to get in their patrol car and make a traffic stop on him in the area of the school.
Brelsford again couldn’t provide a good explanation as to why he was on the campus and why he was in the girls' bathroom, Crum said.
Deputies ascertained that Brelsford was a registered sex offender out of Sacramento County from a 2006 indecent exposure/unlawful entry case but is currently living in Santa Rosa, according to Crum.
Crum said Brelsford’s status as a sex offender precludes him from being at an elementary school without lawful business.
Brelsford was arrested and booked into the Sonoma County Jail on the misdemeanor charge and has since been released on bail, Crum said.
Further investigation found that in 2006, Brelsford was caught by school staff while exposing himself and masturbating behind a fence of an all-girls private high school in Sacramento. He was arrested and convicted of the sex crime which placed him into the sex registry, according to Crum.
Based on these incidents, Crum said the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office has concerns about his threat to public safety. As a result, they released information about his case along with his picture.
Crum said anyone who sees Brelsford on school grounds or acting suspiciously is encouraged to contact the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office or their local law enforcement agency.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday made another adjustment to a proposed ordinance related to marijuana cultivation, which will require the matter to come back for another vote next week.
On the board’s agenda was the second reading of an ordinance amending Article 72 of the Lake County Code to allow the outdoor cultivation of medical marijuana, or cannabis, in the "RL" or Rural Lands zoning designation.
The ordinance also creates a certification of compliance process for cannabis cultivation.
The board last week voted unanimously to approve the ordinance’s first reading.
Planning staffer Mireya Turner told Lake County News that the ordinance before the board on Tuesday is separate from a larger ordinance called the “replacement” ordinance, meant to fully update Article 72, which was passed by voters in 2014 as Measure N.
The updates to county rules have been necessitated by changes at the state level, including last November’s Proposition 64, plus more recent changes adopted by the State Legislature in the form of SB 94 in June.
Turner said the ordinance on Tuesday’s agenda – which she referred to as the “small” one, when compared with the larger, more comprehensive ordinance – specifically is meant to add the Rural Lands designation into the county’s noncommercial cultivation rules.
“This still does not allow for commercial cannabis cultivation,” she said.
It’s the larger replacement ordinance that addresses commercial activities, she explained.
On Tuesday, the board had been set to approve the second reading of the ordinance but changed course on a key provision that they had accepted last week.
Specifically, they began discussing the implications of a clause that required approval of such grows by the lienholder on properties where grows are proposed.
Board Chair Jeff Smith raised issue with that lienholder clause, noting that the original intent was to protect property owners.
He wanted to bring it up to see if other board members agreed that it was unfair, acknowledging that he had received a phone call and other messages related to the issue.
Three of the other four board members agreed while Supervisor Rob Brown did not.
Supervisor Moke Simon said a renter getting permission from a property owner to grow marijuana “is more than reasonable.”
Brown said it was irresponsible of the board to go back and forth on the matter. “We knew exactly what it meant.”
He suggested that the board might as well let those lodging complaints write the ordinance and then rubber stamp it.
Brown said he was exhausted over the matter, and Supervisor Jim Steele said he was too, adding that growers were going to need to adhere to the rules the county implements.
“I’m not optimistic that’s going to happen,” said Brown. “I think we’re selling out our county.”
Ultimately, Simon, Smith, Steele and Tina Scott decided they didn’t want to include the provision while Brown held firm and argued to keep it.
Smith said that he wanted to instead make it a landlord issue.
At the suggestion of County Counsel Anita Grant, the board took the lienholder clause out and replaced it with a requirement that if an applicant is a renter of the property where marijuana is proposed to be grown, they must submit written approval for the permit from the property owner.
Grant said that because there already is similar language elsewhere in Article 72, the change doesn’t require that the document has to be sent back to the Lake County Planning Commission.
However, because the change the board made Tuesday was substantive in nature, Tuesday’s approval by the board became the updated document’s first reading. A second reading is expected to take place at next week’s meeting.
The board voted 4-1 on three separate motions – to change the wording, to read the ordinance in title only and to advance the first reading – to move the document forward, with Brown the lone dissenting vote each time.
New law appears to change deadlines
Meanwhile, the ordinance with comprehensive changes to Article 72 – the “big one,” as Turner called it – is set to go back to the Lake County Planning Commission on Oct. 12.
She said the commission already has had a public hearing on that larger ordinance and it’s expected that commissioners will have consensus and give clear direction to staff on how to proceed at the October meeting.
While the county is trying to get its ordinances finished by the end of the year – and may well succeed based on the progress so far – Turner said SB 94 may make the previous state requirement for local jurisdictions to have rules in place for governing marijuana-related activities moot.
She said the state will now send a notification to cities and counties when they receive applications for growing activities in those areas.
At that point, the local jurisdiction can say those projects do or don’t adhere to local rules, or that they’re still working on finalizing their guidelines, she said.
If local jurisdictions are silent on such permit applications, the law will allow the state to issue the permits, Turner said. That makes it important to address every single permit, regardless of the status of local rules.
Turner, who also is a member of the Lakeport City Council, said she was relieved by the new flexibility in the state regulations, as the city of Lakeport also is working to have its rules in place.
On Sept. 20, the Lakeport Planning Commission held a special meeting to consider the first draft of proposed regulations to govern commercial cannabis activities in the city, as Lake County News has reported.
A key concern for commissioners and city staff during the meeting is attempting to meet the state’s original end-of-year deadline.
In the case of the county, Turner said it could well be done with its work to craft the updated rules by year’s end.
The work on these ordinance updates has been under way for a few years now. Originally, an ad hoc committee that had significant law enforcement presence on it looked at the document, and when it was concluded it was going to be primarily a land use issue, the ordinance’s development reverted to the Community Development Department, Turner explained.
She said Community Development Director Bob Massarelli released the larger revision ordinance document to the public for review about a month and a half ago, so it shouldn’t have a lot of surprises for community members who are concerned about the rules.
That work, she said, is expected to help the process when that larger document finally gets to the Board of Supervisors. “All that prep work will allow us to go smoothly through the board meeting.”
She added, “I’m always hopeful.”
If the new rules aren’t in effect by the end of the year, Turner said she expected it won’t be much longer than that into the new year.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Students in the Lakeport Unified School District will be accompanied by teachers, staff, parents and community members as they participate in the International Walk to School Day on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
The event is a joint effort between the Lakeport Police Department, Lakeport Public Works Department, LUSD administrators and members of the LUSD Wellness Council.
School district personnel are encouraging all students to join the festivities as they walk from the parking lot of the High Street Village shopping center to the school sites that morning.
School bus drivers will be dropping students at the staging area, and parents and guardians who usually drive children to the school sites are urged to drop their children off near the former market in the shopping center, starting at 7:30 a.m.
“We are excited about having our students, staff and parents take part in the International Walk to School Day,” said Superintendent April Leiferman. “We have the support and assistance of the City of Lakeport’s Police and Public Works departments. Their staff will be helping with traffic control so that our students will be able to make the walk safely.”
For brief periods of time, a portion of North High Street, Lakeshore Boulevard and Giselman Street will be closed to allow students to walk the route to school.
The Clear Lake High School marching band, accompanied by teachers, staff, and other volunteers, will lead two groups from the shopping center – the first at approximately 7:45 a.m. and the second at 8:15 a.m. Students who participate in the second walk will not be penalized for late arrival.
As walkers arrive, they will be greeted by enthusiastic staff and volunteers. The walkers will be treated to breakfast snacks, provided by LUSD’s Food Services Department, at their respective school sites. The breakfast will consist of muffins and juice, according to Food Services Director Jackie Courtney.
To learn more about the event, call Sue Stout, secretary, LUSD Curriculum & Instruction, at 707-263-2191, or send her an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Parents wanting to volunteer as walkers or greeters should call to sign up.
“Walk to School Day” is recognized nationally and internationally. In the United States it is coordinated by the National Center for Safe Routes to School. Learn more at www.walkbiketoschool.org/.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – This Saturday downtown Kelseyville will once again be filled with activities, a parade, music, vendors, pear milkshakes and more as the 25th annual Kelseyville Pear Festival celebrates the county’s agricultural history.
The festival will feature dozens of craft and food vendors, a parade, a fly over, a Lake County wine tent, the Pear Pavilion, pie eating and pear dessert contests, a horse faire and a kid’s town recreational area.
This year a “Farm to Fork” dinner will kick off the festival from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday on Main Street, followed by a street dance featuring the Funky Dozen at 7:30 p.m.
On Saturday, the daylong celebration begins early, with a pancake breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m. at the Kelseyville Fire Protection District firehouse.
An old-fashioned Main Street parade begins at 9:30 a.m., with Nicholas Powell to sing the national anthem.
At high noon there will be a pear pie eating contest on Main Street in front of the Pear Pavilion.
Music will be featured on three stages throughout the day. Performers include Flamenco guitarrista Jason Wright, Will Siegel and Friends, The Hip Replacements, Austin and Owens, and Celtic Harp Bliss.
Performers for the festival also will include the Clear Lake Clikkers and the Konocti Klogging Kids.
There will be agricultural, historical and art displays throughout the town, including the Pear Pavilion, where a stagecoach from the Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum will be on display.
A festival favorite, pear milk shakes, will be sold for $4 each at Kelseyville Presbyterian Church’s Fellowship Hall, 5340 3rd St., behind WestAmerica Bank. Festival-goers can get an ice-cold, freshly made and sit down in the air-conditioned hall for a break from the heat.
At 5 p.m., immediately following the festival, the Unitarian Universalist Community of Lake County will present Ukiah recording artist John Mattern in concert at the Fore Family Tasting Room, 3520 Main St.
Wine and appetizers will be available during the concert. The cost to attend is $10 per person, with tickets available at Watershed Books in Lakeport, at www.uuclc.org and at the door.
For more information about the Kelseyville Pear Festival visit www.pearfestival.com or call the Kelseyville Pear Festival office at 707-413-3503.
KELSEYVILLE PEAR FESTIVAL EVENT SCHEDULE
7 to 10 a.m.: Pancake breakfast at the firehouse. 9:30 a.m.: Parade begins 11 a.m. to noon: Will Siegel and Friends, Kelsey Creek Stage, Third and Main streets 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Celtic Harp Bliss, Pear Pavilion 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Jason Wright, WestAmerica Bank Noon: Pear pie eating contest, Main Street in front of the Pear Pavilion Noon to 12:30 p.m.: Konocti Klogging Kids, Kid's Town, First and Main streets (lot to the right of the Saw Shop Bistro) 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.: Will Siegel and Friends, Kelsey Creek Stage 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.: Austin and Owens, Oak Tree Venue, First and Main streets, next to the Saw Shop Bistro 1:30 to 2 p.m.: Clear Lake Clikkers, Third and Main streets 2 to 2:45 p.m.: Austin and Owens, Oak Tree Venue 2 to 5 p.m.: The Hip Replacements, Kelsey Creek Stage 3:15 to 4 p.m.: Austin and Owens, Oak Tree Venue
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – August proved a strong month for real estate sales in Lake County.
The Lake County Association of Realtors, or LCAOR, reported that 95 single family residences sold in August, up over 28 percent from the July total of 74 sales.
In terms of units sold August is often the peak of the selling season, the association said. There were 100 sales transacted in August 2016.
LCAOR said the median sales price was down 5.35 percent from the July median. In August the median sales price was $239,00 compared to $252,500 in July.
On a year-over-year basis the 2017 August median was up 4 percent over the 2016 August median of $229,750, the association said.
At 6.3 months the inventory levels remained “normal” by industry standards. LCAOR said this is in stark contrast to the statewide inventory levels of 2.9 months.
“Inventory levels in Lake County tend to reach their peak in August,” said 2017 LCAOR President Bobby Dutcher. “Now would be a good time for prospective buyers to view properties before the inventory levels decline during the winter months.”
A number of financing options were utilized by buyers, LCAOR said. Conventional loans were used in 41 percent of the sales, FHA loans in 15 percent and VA loans in 7 percent. Cash financing accounted for 28 percent of the deals.
The California Association of Realtors reported that statewide sales in August totaled 427,630 up 1.5 percent from July and 1.3 percent from August 2016. August’s statewide median sales price was $565,330 up 2.9 percent from July and up 7.2 percent from August 2016.
Mortgage rates declined further in August as the 30-year, fixed-mortgage interest rate averaged 3.88 percent in August, down from 3.97 percent in July but was up from 3.44 percent in August 2016, according to Freddie Mac, according to the California Association of Realtors.
The state association said the five-year, adjustable-rate mortgage interest rates ticked down in August to an average of 3.15 percent from 3.22 percent in July but was up from 2.74 percent in August 2016.
LAKE COUNTY NUMBERS AT A GLANCE
August 2017 Median price: $239,000 Median days to sell: 24 Units sold: 95
July 2017 Median price: $252,500 Median days to sell: 35 Units sold: 74
August 2016 Median price: $229,750 Median days to sell: 92 Units sold: 100
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The fourth annual Veterans Stand Down and Resource Fair kicks off on Wednesday and continues Thursday in Lakeport.
The event takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days at the Lake County Fairgrounds, 401 Martin St.
Offerings for veterans will include access to on-site medical services, enrollment in health care and supplemental nutrition programs, and resources relating to education, employment and nutrition.
Veterans Affairs also will be on site in addition to other federal, state, county and community organizations offering programs and avenues of assistance.
Military surplus items will be offered to homeless veterans.
Free transportation to the event is available to veterans who present a veterans ID or their DD214. Catch the bus at your local bus stop.
Free lunch also will be served to all attendees.
The stand down/resource fair event last year at the fairgrounds hosted more than 200 veterans who were served by more than 45 agencies and organizations.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council this week will get a presentation on road projects funded by Measure V, consider a proposal for an ordinance to address vacant properties, hold public hearings on nuisance abatements, and discuss grant applications and a marketing committee appointment.
The council will meet in closed session beginning at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, to discuss existing litigation before the public session of the meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
At the start of the meeting the council will present a certificate of appreciation to Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg for his work with Lake County Youth Services and the Clearlake Youth Center, hear a presentation by the Children’s Museum of Art and Science and the Art House Gallery regarding the results of the Wildlife of Clearlake Youth Art Project, present a proclamation declaring Sept. 22 as Native American Day and introduce the winners of the city of Clearlake’s photo contest.
On the council’s lengthy Thursday agenda is a report on Measure V, the one-cent sales tax measure for roads the city’s voters approved last year.
City Finance Director Chris Becnel’s report for the meeting explained that grading has started and will continue as long as weather allows. So far, 3.2 miles have been graded, Becnel said.
Becnel said city Public Works Director Doug Herren will give the council an update on capital projects funded by Measure V, including Highlands Harbor, Lakeshore Village, Harbor Village, Pine Street and Country Club.
The council on Thursday also will consider giving staff direction regarding the drafting of a vacant property ordinance.
Becnel’s report on the proposed ordinance explains that over the years a number of properties in the city have become uninhabited or outright abandoned, degrading to such a state that trespassing and squatting result.
“The intent of a vacant property ordinance is to spell out with specificity the obligations of the owner of the property for securing the property, curing potential safety concerns, and identify the time period during which it must be accomplished,” Becnel wrote.
Also on Thursday, the council will hold a public hearing to confirm assessments totaling $55,000 for administrative penalties on a number of properties.
Public hearings also will be held for abatement order appeals of properties at 16664 Fifth Ave., 16644 Fifth Ave., 15628 37th Ave. and 15605 Sharpe Drive.
Under council business, council members will consider making an appointment to the marketing committee, consider a first reading of an ordinance setting procedures for expediting permitting processes for electric vehicle charging systems and discuss approving the commitment of Community Development Block Grant Program income funds.
The council also will consider refunding all or a portion of assessments collected by the city from a county-held tax defaulted sale of property, accept the deed for property located at 14180 Division Ave. from the Voerge family, consider a resolution to adopt a list of approved projects for submission to the California Transportation Commission for SB 1 funding and discuss a resolution authorizing submittal of an application to the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
Items on the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are warrant registers, minutes of the Aug. 9 Lake County Vector Control District Board meeting and council authorization to transfer $238,193 of program income funds from CDBG Fund 350 to Capital Projects Fund 240 Department 100681 regarding drawdown on the Phillips/18th Avenue grant.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council will hold a special meeting this week to discuss a grant funding application and closed session property negotiations.
The council will meet on Wednesday, Sept. 27, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The meeting will begin with the council going into closed session at 5:15 p.m. to discuss property negotiations with George Hotaling over a property at 810 N. Main St.
In open session, the council will review and direct staff to prepare the 2017 Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG, application with the proposed projects and programs.
The report from City Manager Margaret Silveira for the meeting said that staff is recommending applying for a total of $2.1 million in the 2017 CDBG funding cycling.
That $2.1 million breaks down as follows, according to Silveira:
Public infrastructure: Martin Street apartments, $1,395,349;
Enterprise fund: Business Assistance Loan Program, $465,116;
Planning technical assistance: Forbes Creek Neighborhood, $93,023;
General administration: $146,512.
Silveira said a final, updated total that the city will seek in the grant funding cycle will be presented at the council’s Nov. 7 meeting.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. – Mendocino National Forest visitors may notice more Forest Service and contract employees working in developed and dispersed recreation sites and along forest roads soon.
They will be wearing bright orange vests and standing near a sign that says “Traffic Survey Ahead.” These well-trained interviewers want to know about your visit to the National Forest.
The National Visitor Use Monitoring survey has already been conducted once on every National Forest in the country.
The Mendocino National Forest is working to update the information previously gathered as well as to look at recreation trends over time.
The information provides National Forest managers with an estimate of how many people actually recreate on federal lands and what activities they engage in while there.
Other important information is how satisfied people were with their visit and the economic impact of your recreation visit on the local economy.
So many small towns are struggling and they hope that tourism may help strengthen their communities. This is one way to estimate the effects, forest officials said.
This recreation visitor program gathers basic visitor information. All responses are totally confidential, in fact a person’s name is never written anywhere on the survey.
The interview lasts about eight minutes. Every other visitor is asked a few additional questions which may take an extra five minutes.
The questions visitors are asked include: where they recreated on the forest, how many people they traveled with, how long they were on the forest, what other recreation sites they visited while on the forest, and how satisfied they were with the facilities and services provided.
About a third of the visitors will be asked to complete a confidential survey on recreation spending during their trip.
Information collected in this national study will be used in local forest planning, at the state level and even by Congress.
The more they know about the visitors, especially their satisfaction and desires, the better managers can provide for their needs.
Although the survey is entirely voluntary, forest officials appreciate it if visitors pull up and answer a few questions.
Forest officials said it’s important to gather information from local people using the forest as well as out-of-area visitors so all types of visitors are represented in the study.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – In a special meeting last week, the Lakeport Planning Commission sat down to consider for the first time proposed regulations that would guide the development of commercial marijuana operations in the city limits.
The Wednesday meeting ran nearly three and a half hours as the commission reviewed a series of rules that had been created by a working group of city staff formed at the direction of the Lakeport City Council, which staff said has indicated it wants rules in place by year’s end.
City Associate Planner Dan Chance said the regulations were based on the voter-approved Proposition 64 and SB 94, the latter adopted by the State Legislature in June.
He said staff has developed marijuana, or cannabis, regulations, into two tracks – personal and commercial.
For personal, the city is amending the marijuana ordinance already in place. Those updates were reviewed in February, and Chance said staff will be bringing them back to the commission for further review.
On the separate commercial track, Chance said staff has been working on developing performance standards and doing the appropriate zoning classifications and definitions, including commercial, industrial and heavy commercial.
He said planning staff has met several times with the working group – composed of Mayor Stacey Mattina and Councilwoman Mireya Turner, Police Chief Brad Rasmussen, City Attorney David Ruderman, City Manager Margaret Silveira and a Community Development Department staffer – to go over the recommendations.
The staff report said that the working group aimed “to balance the demand for commercial cannabis operations while at the same time limiting their visibility within the community and reducing potential negative impacts.”
As part of that effort, the working group recommended prohibiting outdoor cultivation activities, including keeping nursery activities indoors; limiting commercial cannabis activities to the service commercial and industrial zoning districts; requiring review and approval of an operations plan by the Lakeport Police Department prior to issuance of a development permit; controlling for potential odor impacts; and limiting retail sales to delivery only, prohibiting storefront retail, based on the staff report and staff comments at the meeting.
Chance emphasized that the commission was just looking at recommendations – nothing was written in stone – and the commission’s input would be used to craft a final document.
“The whole purpose of this evening is an open discussion on this topic,” said Community Development Director Kevin Ingram.
He said the recommendations weren’t yet in full ordinance form, and that it was a starting point.
A joint meeting of the city council and planning commission is set for Oct. 3; afterward, the staff will produce a full ordinance for the commission’s Oct. 11 meeting, Ingram said.
He said the state wants local governments to come up with their own rules by the end of this year. Many communities are like Lakeport and trying to get the rules in place by that deadline, Ingram added.
Commissioner Michael Green said he didn’t believe that the end-of-year time frame is a hard deadline, and suggested the city could put a placeholder ordinance on the books while it works on a more long-term document.
While he said he liked a lot of what he saw in the document, Green voiced concern about the process that produced it, which relied on a working group of city officials and staff. He said the best ordinances in the state have come from a more open and inclusive process, and suggested that some of the errors in the work could have been prevented by having members of industry and the general public involved.
Silveira said the city could have more workshops if the council and commission thought it necessary, adding it would be difficult to come up with a different committee due to time constraints.
“Ordinances can be changed. It's not an easy process but they can be changed,” she said.
Commissioner Michael Froio asked why the city was looking at the topic in the first place, and questioned what the city has to gain or lose. He wanted to know if they are looking at tax revenue or to stay out of trouble with the state.
Silveira said they are looking at what’s in the best interest of the community, as well as abiding by the state’s rules. It’s not necessarily a matter of revenue generation, she added.
While Silveira indicated revenue wasn’t the chief consideration, Green said that the city needed to have a cannabis tax on the table to go with its proposed regulations.
He said he wanted to see such a tax measure on the 2018 city ballot. “I do see it as a revenue generator. Maybe not a huge one.”
During the discussion, Green acknowledged that dispensaries and outdoor cultivation can be contentious when considering such rules. He said he didn’t think cultivation would work in such a small city, but on the other hand said he believed the city is an ideal location for industrial activities.
Green said there is a fairly limited window of time for the city to attract the best of the best in the cannabis industry. Overall, he said Lake County is falling behind to some extent.
Cities are ideal places to local services, he said. “If we want the best of the best, it would behoove us to act sooner than later.”
Being able to attract top-quality companies would put Lakeport on the map, Green suggested.
In response to Green’s concern about a cannabis tax, Silveira said there is still time to put such a measure on the November 2018 ballot.
Commissioner Ken Wicks Jr. said he wanted the commission to look at the broader picture, and how the impacts could play out 10 years down the line.
He said Lakeport has been looking for opportunities to partner with businesses. “This is not likely to go away.”
While the marijuana industry now appears mostly centered in edibles and smoking, Wicks said he expected pharmaceutical uses to be involved in the future.
“You're going to have a whole different animal happening in commercial cannabis distribution,” he said, with a broader range of businesses deciding they can come and do business in Lakeport.
Green said the topic of pharmaceuticals is a whole different discussion and it’s years out. Meanwhile, he said there already is a lot of manufacturing going on.
Wicks said cannabis is going to generate taxes, and he pointed to the 39 possible licenses for the product under the new state laws. “Which means there's a whole lot of things happening,” he said, adding that he believes everything will straighten itself out.
One of the concerns for commissioners during the meeting was public outreach. Only about half a dozen community members were in the audience for the discussion, despite the city’s attempt at outreach and articles in local media ahead of the meeting.
However, compared to other meetings the city has held regarding marijuana, the turnout appeared normal. Unlike the city of Clearlake and the county of Lake, Lakeport hasn’t had large turnouts of growers and industry members for meetings on its rules.
Of the small group present for the Wednesday meeting, only one person, businessman Ron Rose, spoke during public comment.
Rose said he was there because he wanted to open a dispensary in downtown Lakeport.
However, based on the state-required buffers from parks and schools, Ingram said having a dispensary in the downtown may be difficult.
Other points made during the commission’s discussion included Green’s concerns about not having storefront dispensaries and the need to capture taxes. He said they shouldn’t exclude any license type, including the possibility of allowing for vapor lounges.
He said he also wanted to be friendly to testing labs, as landing one could be a coup for the city.
Key points of consensus the commission reached during the meeting included agreeing with the working group on not allowing any form of outdoor commercial cultivation and asking staff to investigate the timelines to put a commercial cannabis tax on the ballot next year.
The commission also voted unanimously to have the city initiate a text amendment to the zoning ordinance to develop commercial cannabis regulations.
In addition to the Oct. 3 joint meeting of the commission and council, other key dates on the ordinance implementation schedule include the Oct. 11 Lakeport Planning Commission, when the commission will review the draft ordinance staff will put together; a first reading by the city council on Nov. 7; and a potential second and final reading of the ordinance at the city council’s Nov. 21 or Dec. 5 meeting.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Local and state firefighters contained a fire that occurred late Monday night along Highway 29 near Lower Lake.
The fire off Highway 29 and Hofacker Lane was first reported at about 10:20 p.m., with units dispatched from Cal Fire, Lake County Fire, Kelseyville Fire and Northshore Fire’s Clearlake Oaks station, according to radio reports.
The first units on scene reported over the radio that two small fires had burned together up the hill on the side of northbound Highway 29, just north of Hofacker. No structures were threatened.
Just after 11:15 p.m. the fire’s forward progress was reported to be stopped, and just after 11:35 p.m. it was reported to be contained at three acres, according to reports from the scene.
Cal Fire’s incident commander at the scene reported at that point that resources were expected to remain on scene for five hours.
Units at the scene had asked the California Highway Patrol to close the northbound lane of traffic while the firefighting effort was under way.
Shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday the CHP reported that traffic was still being diverted around the fire area, with Caltrans putting a closure in place at Highway 29 at Spruce Grove Road South and directing traffic onto Spruce Grove Road.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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