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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
LAKEPORT – A street reconstruction project may slower drivers for the next few days.
Reconstruction of South Main Street between Lakeport Boulevard and the Social Security Office has drivers enduring lane closures as well as rough road surfaces.
A supervisor from Pavement Engineering Inc. indicated that the project is slated for completion early next week.
E-mail Harold LaBonte at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
On Oct. 18 the Planning Commission held a public hearing and accepted a use permit and a mitigated negative declaration on Cal Water's proposed 300,000-gallon water storage tank, according to Melissa Floyd, the special products consultant working on the project for the Community Development Department.
The project, located at 5717 Fennel Drive, 4942 and 4963 Utopia Trail in Lucerne, also includes moving 1,200 cubic yards of fill, according to planning documents.
Floyd said the new tank will be next to the company’s existing 200,000-gallon tank on Utopia Trail, located on a hillside above Lucerne.
Floyd said the county is requiring Cal Water to get a use permit for the water tank.
The county also felt the tank needed oversight due to the significant grading that will be done, said Floyd. “There was not going to be anyone else looking at it.”
The use permit and the removal of the fill dirt triggers the California Environmental Quality Act, said Floyd, under which the county is the lead agency for the tank project.
Floyd said with the building plan they have, there is nothing to indicate there will be stability issues. Plans include contouring and possibly adding a retaining wall.
The next step in the process for the company is construction, said Floyd.
“They’re hoping they can do it this winter,” said Floyd, which would make it subject to winter grade provisions under the grading ordinance.
Tony Carrasco – Cal Water's Oroville district manager who has been overseeing Lucerne, which has been without a district manager since Bill Koehler left earlier this year – confirmed that the company wants to break ground on the tank this month.
However, breaking ground will be dependent on satisfying the increased requirements that come with winter grading, said Floyd.
Those include very strict erosion control and protecting the site from rain.
“They need to be able to button up the site at the end of any work day,” she said.
Ultimately, said Floyd, Community Development Director Rick Coel must give the go-ahead for winter grading work.
The water tank is separate from Cal Water’s plant update, said Floyd.
“Because it’s a semi-public utility the county does not have jurisdiction to permit the plant itself,” she said. “We only have jurisdiction for the water tank.”
Carrasco said the company currently has 624,000 gallons of storage. The new tank will allow the company to produce “a little more” water, Carrasco added.
“It’s going to serve for several different purposes,” said Carrasco, including meeting peak demand during summer months, having enough water for fire prevention and allowing a moratorium on hookups to Lucerne's system to be lifted.
Ultimately, Carrasco said the additional storage will allow the company to add more customers to its Lucerne base of 1,200 hookups.
Carrasco said Cal Water hopes to have the tank completed by the early summer of 2008, in conjunction with the completion of the new treatment plant.
The company also is working on pipe replacement, said Carrasco. Cal Water currently is looking at areas with histories of leaks and major veins in the system – Country Club, Highway 20 and Foothill – and replacing between 500 and 750 feet of main pipe annually.
“That's going to be an ongoing capital improvement into the future,” said Carrasco.
The design of the treatment plant is 100-percent complete and has been awarded to a contractor, said Carrasco. Construction on the plant also is scheduled to begin this month.
The plant is contingent on approval by the state Department of Health Services, which so far has not returned calls from Lake County News seeking the status of Cal Water's plant application.
The new plant will include an ultraviolet system and microfiltration, which will be placed within the footprint of the existing building on Highway 20, said Carrasco. The plant design utilizes former storage areas for buildout, in order to cut down on costs.
Carrasco said the cost to build the new tank is still being estimated; the plant will cost $2.8 million to construct, an amount that doesn’t include engineering or new equipment.
Earlier this year the company scaled back its plans for the new plant, saving a reported $1 million, as Lake County News previously reported.
The new plant will allow the water system to keep up with community demands as well as those of visitors.
Carrasco said they’re planning to have the same capacity for the new plant; the difference is, the new plant shouldn’t have water quality issues, he said.
“The plant controls will adjust to the water quality,” said Carrasco, and changing conditions won’t result in boil order conditions.
Over the last several years Cal Water's Lucerne system has had many boil water notices, the most recent, lasting for four days, was issued in late September.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Carrasco, who added that the completed plant will be a “great thing for the community.”
Dealing with community moratorium
Both Floyd and Carrasco said that Lucerne currently is under a water hookup moratorium imposed by the state Department of Health Services.
Additional hookup requests have to be authorized through the Department of Health Services, Carrasco said, which looks at the requests on a case-by-case basis.
Floyd said that, generally, Community Development doesn’t issue building permits for homes unless the builder can prove they have a water source.
“It’s taken pretty seriously at the Community Development Department level,” said Floyd.
The decision to lift the moratorium, Floyd added, must come from the state.
Lake County News has not received return calls from state officials in the Department of Health Services on the status of the hookup moratorium and when it might be lifted.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
A report from Clearlake Police Sgt. Tim Celli explained that at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday Clearlake Police officers responded to a reported reckless driver at the Lake County Fire Protection District's Parker Station on Olympic Drive.
At the time, fire department personnel were busy hosting their annual haunted house, according to Celli, and there were several hundred children in the area.
While Clearlake Police volunteers were directing traffic near the fire station, Celli reported that they saw a 1988 Mazda sedan driving into the area at an unsafe speed and making unsafe turns while children were present.
The vehicle was reportedly driving on the grass in front of the fire department building, eventually stopping in front of the fire department's garage doors, Celli reported.
The Clearlake Police volunteers radioed the police department, who dispatched officers to the scene. In the meantime, Celli said Lakeshore Fire personnel contacted the vehicle's driver, 59-year-old Freddie Williams, who appeared to be intoxicated.
Clearlake Police Officer Todd Miller arrived at the scene and conducted a drunk driver investigation, which Celli said resulted in Williams' arrest for driving while intoxicated.
During a police search of the Williams' person and his vehicle, they found open alcohol containers, Celli reported.
A preliminary examination found that Williams had a blood alcohol content of .23, nearly three times the legal limit, according to Celli.
Celli said Williams was booked into the Lake County Jail for charges of driving under the influence.
The Lake County District Attorney's Office also will be requested to review the case for child endangerment charges due the large number of children in the area at the time of the incident, Celli reported.
Celli said the teamwork demonstrated by the Lake County Fire Protection personnel, Clearlake Police Volunteers in Policing and Clearlake Police officers resulted in a safe, successful Halloween.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED, WITH A CORRECTION ON TOBIE EDMONDS' POSITION ON THE ARSON TASK FORCE.
BARTLETT SPRINGS – An investigation into a series of fires in the Bartlett Springs is under way, as officials look at the possibility of arson.
Structure fires have besieged the area in recent months, with the most recent – a quarter-acre fire that burned a building – occurring Sunday, as Lake County News previously reported.
“There have been four or five fires over the last three or four months and the cause is still under investigation for each one of them,” said Tobie Edmonds, the Northshore Fire Protection District representative on the Lake County Arson Task Force.
Edmonds said the task force includes an investigator from each fire district in the county, the sheriff's department, Lakeport Police and Clearlake Police, the District Attorney's Office, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, Lake County Probation and local juvenile authorities.
Because the investigation is still under way, Edmonds said he couldn't further discuss the circumstances of the particular cases.
The fires that have burned in the Bartlett Springs area have resulted in a lot of lost history.
On July 28, the Bartlett Springs Resort Lodge burned to the ground, as Lake County News previously reported. It was the third lodge at the once-famed resort.
The resort's nearby gazebo barely escaped the July 28 fire, but a fire on Sept. 11 destroyed it as well.
Zane Gray, the resort's caretaker, said he believes the fires are the result of arson, and said ignition devices were found at both sites.
Gray had helped rebuild both the gazebo and the lodge during his more than 20 years of caring for the nearly 2,000-acre resort property, which today is owned by Nestle.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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