As a member of the courthouse project advisory committee since its inception, I can say that our community members have worked diligently since our initial meeting on Nov. 19, 2008.

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.