CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. — Plans for a park whose genesis has been several years in the making took a step forward during the first community meeting on the project in Clearlake Oaks on Tuesday.

The John T. Klaus Park will be located on 584 acres of donated land along Highway 20 east of Clearlake Oaks.

The Board of Supervisors accepted the property donation in November of 2022.

The new land will be added to the county’s park system, which currently includes roughly 2,000 acres, most of it part of Mount Konocti County Park, Public Services Director Lars Ewing told Lake County News.

The Lake County Public Services Department, which will manage the park, hosted the community meeting at East Lake School Tuesday evening.

Ewing and Public Services Deputy Director Kati Galvani were on hand along with Scott Redding, principal landscape architect, and Lesley Owning, principal environmental planner, of Helix Environmental Planning of Folsom, the company hired to do the initial analysis and conceptual planning.

About 34 people — including District 4 Supervisor-elect Brad Rasmussen and his wife, Karyn — came to listen to the presentation, review a series of picture boards showing the project area, ask questions and share ideas with the consultants.

“This is more of a listening session than anything,” said Ewing.

Ewing said the county has been working with the Elem Colony, meeting with its tribal historic preservation officer regarding the project and also doing additional tribal outreach.

The John T. Klaus 1994 Trust provided not just the property but between $3 million and $4 million in funds for the sole purpose of supporting the park, Ewing reported.

The trust spells out specific requirements, including that the land must be used for a park, that the park must be named for John T. Klaus, that the rear one-third of the property must be used for a wildlife preserve or refuge, and that areas in the front of the park shall be used for youth sporting activities.

Helix is doing the biological and cultural constraints analysis, which Ewing said will determine what additional biological and cultural studies are needed.

From there, the process is expected to move into conceptual design and then schematic design, he said.

However, that part of the process is much farther down the road. Tuesday night’s meeting was to get the process off the ground by hearing from community members about what they envision for the park. More meetings, one virtual and another in-person, are coming up.

Owning explained outreach with tribes and the California Native American Heritage Commission to find out if cultural resource studies have been done on the site. They are waiting for responses to those informational requests.

No study of the site has been done to date. Owning said they believe the more recent uses of the property have been for a homestead, grazing and an orchard.

From the audience came a long list of possible amenities for the park, with trails — walking, biking and equestrian — chief among them.

There also were suggestions for a visitor center to promote the county, RV and camping sites, bathrooms, concessions, a fitness circuit, a dog park and dog waste stations, a stage for weddings and events, a community garden, interpretive signage and a native plant garden. Businessman Don Van Pelt said the trails should be wide to help with visibility as there are a lot of rattlesnakes in the area.

Considerations for park design include access points into the park, either off of Highway 20 or Almond Lane.

Van Pelt pointed out that they should feature a knoll — located behind the nearby quarry that he owns — in the new park, as the spot has one of the prettiest views of Clear Lake in Lake County.

Explaining that the project is now in the very early planning stage, Ewing said the next step is defining the project and advancing it by coming up with a master plan.

After the concept design is created — which will take a few months to complete — Ewing said there will still be much to do, including preliminary plans, and there will be more public input opportunities.

For more information, to offer ideas and input, or to be added to the notification list, email Public Services’ Parks Division at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 707-262-1618.

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.