LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council meeting this week featured an appearance by Batman, approval of the city’s lakefront revitalization plan and the direction to staff to negotiate an agreement for solar and energy conservation projects.
The meeting got started with Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen and Mayor Stacey Mattina presenting certificates of appreciation to businesses and organizations that partnered to present the city’s National Night Out event in August.
Rasmussen said they assisted with providing advertising, prizes, equipment, cooking, food and more.
“We absolutely could not do it without the support of all of you,” Rasmussen said.
Those receiving certificates were Bruno’s Shop Smart, the Clear Lake High School Class of 2019, Country Air Properties, Lupoyoma Park Improvement Association, Esplanade Street Neighborhood Watch, Grocery Outlet, Face Painting by Kathy, Jeff Morin Art, Kiwanis Club of Lakeport, Kmart, KXBX, Lake County Amateur Radio Society, the Lake County Fair, Lake County News, Lake Event Design, Lakeport Cinema 5, Lakeport Main Street Association, Lakeport Pizza, Main Street Bicycles, Pak ‘N Mail, ServPro of Lake County, St. Mary Immaculate Parish, Susie Q’s Donuts, the Nerd Cave, Tony Barthel and Valerie Schweifler.
The last to appear was Batman, who received his certificate and a handshake from the mayor and chief.
City Manager Margaret Silveira said all of the contributions have allowed National Night Out to be completely free to the community. She added that Batman was a big hit with the children this year.
In other business, Community Development Director Kevin Ingram introduced the Lakeport Lakefront Revitalization Plan to the council.
The Lakeport Planning Commission unanimously recommended the plan to the council last month, as Lake County News has reported.
The plan covers the area along the waterfront bounded by Clearlake Avenue in the north to C Street in the south, including public and private property. Ingram called it an important planning tool.
The city received more than 750 responses from the community through both meetings and an online survey.
Ingram said the only negative feedback he’s gotten was the lack of a funding component, however, he pointed out that adoption of the plan would add strength to future grant opportunities, which the city plans to start pursuing quickly.
The plan quantifies the importance to the community of a promenade or continuous walking path along the lakeshore. That part of the project is a highly popular feature, Ingram said.
Ingram said the plan would allow a developer to come in and see what the community would like to have. He said it’s also designed to be flexible and implementable in an incremental fashion.
He added that staff is excited to move forward into the implementation stage.
Steve Noll – a principal at the firm Design Workshop of Stateline, Nev., which prepared the plan for the city – presented an overview of the document.
He summarized challenges as circulation of traffic, private property and economic viability, with opportunities including connectivity between Main Street and the waterfront, enhancing local shops and amenities, existing uses, lakefront access, community events and collaboration with property owners, specifically, the Lakeport Unified School District, the owner of the Natural High property on the lakeshore.
Focus areas include the promenade; the city-owned Dutch Harbor property and Natural High; and parking and circulation in the area of Third Street.
The plan includes a number of preliminary concepts, shown in the staff report below from pages 64 to 73. Each is a variation with four key parts: the promenade, a combined use of the city and school property, parking and circulation and a hotel development.
Through working with community members and an economic assessment, the plan identified key priorities that the plan says “should all be kept at the forefront of the City’s future efforts.”
Those priorities are the promenade, additional restaurants and shopping, improved public open space, improved waterfront access, a hotel, improved circulation and connectivity to downtown, a community recreation center and water park.
Mattina said part of the process is looking at what the city has and considering what is the dream for that area, noting that not everything is going to happen right away.
“I’ve been dreaming of a promenade forever, and now at least we have one in writing,” she said.
Ingram explained that Main Street used to be a location of key activities, from the post office to the grocery store, which have since moved to the city’s fringes.
He said successful downtowns have rebuilt themselves as destinations, where people go for an experience – from the arts to enjoying an activity – and stay to shop. In Lakeport’s case, the city can offer the lake itself as a downtown activity.
During public comment, community member Nancy Ruzicka said that during the planning meetings, community members were clear about not wanting an 80-unit hotel at the small Dutch Harbor property, and that they liked better the proposal to build a hotel at Will-O-Point.
Lake County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Melissa Fulton advocated for keeping both Dutch Harbor and Natural High as open space.
She also said that seaplane pilots, who recently visited the city during the annual Seaplane Splash-In, have indicated willingness to invest in getting a permanent seaplane ramp at the location so they can fly in year-round.
Ingram noted that it became very clear during all the public outreach that Natural High is a very valuable aesthetic property thanks to its view of the lake.
Councilman Kenny Parlet moved to approve the plan, which the council supported 5-0.
The council on Tuesday also authorized Silveira to negotiate a program development agreement with OpTerra Energy Systems for solar and energy conservation projects.
Ingram said staff had moved forward at council direction with pursuing projects but found that some regulatory and legislative changes led to questions of feasibility.
He said he and City Engineer Paul Curren had a great meeting with the Yuba City Public Works director and also talked to others who worked with OpTerra, which has done an energy audit and a site visit.
OpTerra Senior Manager Ashu Jain said the proposed scope of work included LED lighting; solar installations at City Hall, the Lakeport Police Department, the wastewater treatment plant and the city corporation yard; outdoor and indoor lighting retrofits at city facilities; and new HVAC units at locations including the Carnegie Library.
The preliminary plans propose solar parking canopies at City Hall and the police department, with city hall also to get an electric vehicle car charging station, according to Jain.
The initial estimate for all of the parts of the project is $3.9 million, with the city expected to realize $266,000 a year, or about 50 percent of its overall consumption. Jain said they would return with more firm numbers.
Jain said the project proposes to create $15 million in net savings before lease payments over a 30-year period. His estimates also included maintenance that the company would provide.
If the project goes forward, Jain said program development will take place from September to January, and implementation from February 2018 to February 2019.
Mattina said the city now needs to figure out a way to pay for it.
Parlet said having such a project would put Lakeport out in front of other rural communities, and he believed financing can be discussed later, once they know if they will actually go forward with a project after further assessment is done.
He moved to have Silveira start the negotiations, with Councilwoman Mireya Turner seconded and the council voting 5-0.
The council also unanimously approved a resolution authorizing Finance Director Nick Walker and Silveira to work with a team to refinance the prior bonds by issuing wastewater revenue refunding bonds with a principal amount of approximately $3 million, and authorized Silveira to execute the proposed professional services agreements for background investigations with James Bauman dba Pacific Quest Investigations; Gary R. Buchholz dba LACO Investigation; Cline Investigations, LLC; and Bob Nishiyama Investigations.
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091917 Lakeport City Council agenda packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd