LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Organizers of the August Blackberry Cobbler Festival said they are postponing this year’s event due to concerns about rising COVID-19 cases.
“With great concern and love for our community, and out of an abundance of caution, we have made the decision to postpone the Blackberry Cobbler Festival,” said the Cobb Area Council, the event’s organizer, in a statement. “We are aiming to protect our community, our guests, and our beloved festival from negative impacts.”
The event had been planned for Aug. 28 at the Whispering Pines Resort in Cobb.
The festival is part of a larger plan created by the Economic Development Committee of the Cobb Area Council to bring more visitors to the Cobb area to help stimulate economic growth by supporting local businesses and artisans, and to celebrate the community’s unique offerings and fun locations.
Despite the postponement, there will still be an opportunity to enjoy some delicious blackberry cobbler.
Contact the Cobb Mountain Lion's Club to find out how you can order your award winning blackberry cobbler (made by last year's grand prize winner Kelly Stuckey).
Follow their Facebook page for updates on their drive-thru event on Aug. 28.
Several Cobb businesses will still offer smaller events and entertainment that can be enjoyed including:
— Live music at Mandala Springs; weekend packages, www.mandala.org, 707-371-5022. — Live music in the evening at Adams Springs Golf Course, 707-928-9992. — Swimming and events at Pine Grove Resort, www.pinegrovecobb.com. — Blackberry menu items all week at Mountain High Coffee & Books, 16295 Highway 175. — Guided hike with Friends of Boggs Mountain, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to sign up for the 9 a.m. hike on Aug. 28.
Visit http://ExploreCobbCA.com for more information and to support the artists and businesses in the Cobb community.
The Cobb Area Council said it’s grateful for the generous donation from Calpine Corp. and their commitment to support the event when it can next happen.
The group also thanked the Strickler family of Whispering Pines Resort, Seigler Springs Community Redevelopment Association, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., California Tendai Buddhists, Pat and Jon Meyer, Adventist Health Clear Lake, Boatique Winery, Kelsey Creek Brewery, Shannon Ridge Winery, Fore Family Winery, Pope Valley Winery and many volunteers who have put in hours of work and donations.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The National Weather Service has issued a fire weather watch for Lake County which coincides with a potential public safety power shutoff that is expected to impact parts of the community.
The fire weather watch is in effect for Lake County from 11 p.m. Tuesday to 3 p.m. Wednesday.
The agency said a fire weather watch means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur.
The forecast said there is the potential for northeast winds from 15 to 25 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 35 miles per hour possible along exposed ridges late Tuesday night through Wednesday morning. Northeast winds are expected to ease later Wednesday, but may increase again Wednesday night.
At the same time, humidity on Tuesday afternoon will be low, with poor recoveries overnight Tuesday, especially over higher slopes and ridgetops, and persisting into Thursday morning.
Those winds, combined with dry conditions, have prompted Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to plan a potential public safety power shutoff that is expected to begin Tuesday night and continue until about noon on Wednesday.
The forecast calls for daytime temperatures this week to be in the low to high 90s, dropping into the 80s over the weekend. Nighttime conditions will be warm, staying in the low 60s for much of the week before dropping into the high 50s.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors is set to consider an amendment to its urgency ordinance requiring masking in all county facilities as well as a resolution in support of the sale of the county’s franchise waste hauler when it meets this week.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting ID is 949 5003 7667, pass code 536399. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16699006833,,94950037667#,,,,*536399#.
All interested members of the public that do not have internet access or a Mediacom cable subscription are encouraged to call 669-900-6833, and enter the Zoom meeting ID and pass code information above.
In an untimed item, the board will consider amending Urgency Ordinance No. 3108, passed Aug. 3, that requires everyone to wear facial coverings in county facilities, regardless of vaccination status.
“At that time, your Board directed staff to develop a trigger leading to rescission of the Ordinance when conditions improve,” County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson wrote in a memo to the board.
Huchingson said that consistent with the policy of local schools, under the proposed amendment, the ordinance would remain in place as long as the COVID-19 transmission rate in Lake County is "moderate" or above.
“Moderate” transmission, as defined by the California Department of Public Health, is not more than 5.9 cases/100,000 and testing positivity not more than 4.9%, Huchingson said.
As of early Monday, Lake County’s case rate per 100,000 was 59, ranking it No. 3 in the state. Testing positivity is 15.7%.
Huchingson said the proposed amendment calls for the board to reconsider the ordinance — and possibly rescind it — once Lake County falls below the moderate level.
In another untimed item, the supervisors will consider solid waste handling and collection company change of assignment.
Public Services Director Lars Ewing said in a report to the board that the county’s contracted solid waste handling and collection company for the unincorporated county areas, Lake County Waste Solutions, informed the county on July 14 that it’s intending to sell the company to Waste Connections Inc.
“The existing agreement between the County and LCWS includes a provision that a change in control of the company’s franchise shall be dependent upon consent of the County, as expressed by resolution of the Board of Supervisors,” Ewing noted in his memo.
Ewing said staff recommends the board approve the resolution for the sale, which he said includes all operations under the control of C&S Group Holdings Inc., including Lake County Waste Solutions; Clearlake Waste Solutions, which serves the city of Clearlake; Ukiah Waste Solutions, which serves the city of Ukiah; and the Lake County Transfer Station and Recycling Center at 230 Soda Bay Road in Lakeport.
In other business, the board will consider adding special meeting dates to its annual meeting calendar for the purpose of redistricting public hearings as well as setting the redistricting public hearing schedule. That item also is untimed.
In an item timed for 9:06 a.m., the board will get a presentation on SB 1383, which calls for reducing short-lived climate pollutants in California, consider a resolution exempting the County of Lake from the organic waste collection service requirements for commercial and residential generators and provide direction to staff.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Approve letter requesting State Department of Water Resources extend deadline to use available funds granted via Agreement No. 4600012946.
5.2: Adopt a resolution approving a cooperative Agreement No. 21-0224-000-SA with the California Department of Food and Agriculture State Organic Inspection Program for the county of Lake.
5.3: Approve agreement between the county of Lake and Visit Lake County California for the provision of administrative services in the amount of $78,000 from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.4: Approve amendment to the Uniform and Clothing Purchase Policy and Exhibit A, and direct the Human Resources director to conduct the meet and confer process with our labor representatives.
5.5: Adopt resolution amending Resolution No. 2021-68 and the position allocation chart for fiscal year 2021-22 establishing position allocations for fiscal year 2021-2022, Budget Unit No. 1121, Auditor-Controller/County Clerk.
5.6: Approve the continuation of a local health emergency related to the 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) as proclaimed by the Lake County Public Health officer.
5.7: Approve the continuation of a local health emergency and order prohibiting the endangerment of the community through the unsafe removal, transport, and disposal of fire debris for the LNU Complex wildfire.
5.8: Approve the continuation of a local emergency due to the Mendocino Complex fire incident (River and Ranch fires).
5.9: Approve the continuation of a local emergency due to COVID-19.
5.10: Approve the continuation of an emergency declaration for drought conditions.
5.11: Approve the continuation of a local emergency in Lake County in Response to the LNU Lightning Complex wildfire event.
5.12: Approve the continuation of a local emergency due to the Pawnee Fire incident.
5.13: Adopt resolution approving right of way certification for Witter Springs Road at Cooper Creek Bridge — Replacement Project No. BRLO-5914(078).
5.14: a) Approve a professional services agreement between the county of Lake and county of Sonoma for interim county surveyor functions, and b) appoint Leonard H. Gabrielson as interim county surveyor.
5.15: Accept donation of a vehicle estimated in the amount of $51,000 from the Center to Combat Human Trafficking.
5.16: Approve equitable sharing agreement and certification between the county of Lake Sheriff's Office and the US Department of Justice; and authorize the sheriff and chairman to sign.
5.17: Approve electronic submission of the FY21 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program application in the amount of $15,405, to provide funding for an extra help employee to assist with forensic processing and data collection services; and authorize the chairman to sign all grant documents.
5.18: Sitting as the Lake County Watershed Protection District, approve Amendment No. 1 to the agreement between the county of Lake and Monument Inc. for appraisal and acquisition services for the Middle Creek Flood Damage Reduction and Ecosystem Restoration Project and authorize the Chair of the Board of Directors to sign the agreement.
TIMED ITEMS
6.2, 9:06 a.m.: Presentation on SB 1383, reducing short-lived climate pollutants in California.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Consideration of letter authorizing North Coast Opportunities to apply on behalf of Lake County Risk Reduction Authority for the 2021 California Fire Safe Council County Coordinators Grant Project and serve as the grant subrecipient.
7.3: Consideration of ordinance amending Urgency Ordinance No. 3108 requiring all persons, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status, wear face coverings in county facilities.
7.4: Consideration of (a) addition of special meeting dates to the board’s annual meeting calendar for 2021, for the purpose of redistricting public hearings (b) redistricting public hearing schedule.
7.5: Discussion and consideration of an ordinance amending Article VII of Chapter 13 of the Lake County Code relating to administrative fines and penalties.
7.6: Consideration of solid waste handling and collection company change of assignment.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1: Public employee appointment pursuant to Gov. Code Section 54957(b)(1): Appointment of Community Development director.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The National Weather Service on Tuesday issued a red flag warning for Lake County as a windstorm approaches, while Pacific Gas and Electric has expanded the area in Lake County that’s expected to be impacted by a Tuesday evening public safety power shutoff.
The National Weather Service had previously issued a fire weather watch, but that has been upgraded.
The red flag warning is in effect in Lake County from 11 p.m. Tuesday to 8 p.m. Wednesday in areas above the 1,500-foot elevation mark.
A red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now or will shortly as a result of strong winds, low humidity and warm temperatures.
The National Weather Service said northwest to north winds of up to 25 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 35 miles per hour, are possible Tuesday afternoon and evening, and into early Wednesday.
The combination of winds, low humidity and high temperature could result in critical fire conditions, officials said.
That windstorm has caused PG&E to move forward with plans for a potential public safety power shutoff, or PSPS. The company began notifying customers on Sunday night of a possible outage.
As of early Tuesday afternoon, 18 counties, including Lake, are still in the area of the planned outage, but in Lake County the number of customers expected to be impacted has more than doubled since Monday night.
On Tuesday, PG&E said 4,563 customers in Lake County are in the anticipated outage area, with 353 of those in the Medical Baseline program.
The estimated time of shutoff in Lake County is between 7 and 8 p.m. Tuesday, with restoration expected as of 2 p.m. Thursday.
PG&E customers can look up their addresses to find out if their location is being monitored for the potential safety shutoff at www.pge.com/pspsupdates.
Editor’s note: The story has been updated to show restoration may occur in Lake County as late as Thursday afternoon.
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.
With the faster-spreading Delta variant driving an increase in new COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed an executive order to ensure the state’s health care facilities continue to have the staffing and resources needed to prevent potential strain on the state’s health care delivery system and to provide staffing flexibility for schools to ensure continuity of in-person instruction for all students.
The order extends provisions implemented to expand California’s health care workforce during the pandemic, including allowing health care workers from out of state to provide services in California and enabling certain medical personnel and emergency medical technicians to continue supporting the state’s COVID-19 response.
The order also gives health care facilities the flexibility to plan and adapt their space to accommodate patients.
The order also provides more flexibility for retired teachers and school staff to return to fill short-term staffing shortages. Retired staff can assist schools impacted by the rising case rates caused by the Delta variant to stay safely and fully open.
A copy of the governor’s executive order is published below.
In addition, the California Department of Public Health on Monday issued a new public health order requiring hospitals statewide to accept transfer patients from facilities with limited ICU capacity, when clinically appropriate.
That is an important development for communities like Lake County, which transports a large number of patients to out-of-county facilities for high-level care.
State officials emphasized that vaccination against COVID-19 is the most effective means of preventing infection, transmission and outbreaks.
California has put more shots in arms than any other state — administering over 46 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine with over 78% of those eligible having received at least one dose — and implemented a first-in-the-nation requirement that workers in health care settings be fully vaccinated, as well as stricter requirements for visitors at health care facilities.
The state is encouraging local governments and other employers to adopt a similar protocol and continues its multipronged strategy to reach communities with low vaccination rates.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lakeport City Council will consider moving forward on the process to raise water and sewer rates in the city when it meets this week.
The council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The council chambers will be open to the public for the meeting. In accordance with updated guidelines from the state of California and revised Cal OSHA Emergency Temporary Standards, persons who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19 are required to wear a face covering at this meeting.
If you cannot attend in person, and would like to speak on an agenda item, you can access the Zoom meeting remotely at this link or join by phone by calling toll-free 669-900-9128 or 346-248-7799.
The webinar ID is 973 6820 1787, access code is 477973; the audio pin will be shown after joining the webinar. Those phoning in without using the web link will be in “listen mode” only and will not be able to participate or comment.
Comments can be submitted by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To give the City Clerk adequate time to print out comments for consideration at the meeting, please submit written comments before 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 17.
Indicate in the email subject line "for public comment" and list the item number of the agenda item that is the topic of the comment. Comments that are read to the council will be subject to the three minute time limitation (approximately 350 words). Written comments that are only to be provided to the council and not read at the meeting will be distributed to the council before the meeting.
On Tuesday, Assistant City Manager and Finance Director Nick Walker will introduce a resolution declaring the council’s intention to adopt increased water and sewer rates, setting a public hearing for Oct. 19, and directing staff to provide notice pursuant to Proposition 218, along with a resolution establishing guidelines for the submission and tabulation of protests in connection with rate hearings conducted pursuant to the California Constitution.
Staff will present a report discussing the proposed new rates.
In May, Willdan Financial Services presented an initial study on the potential rate increase, with the council approving completion of the final report at that time.
Also on Tuesday, the council will receive a proclamation designating Aug. 31 as International Overdose Awareness Day, followed by a presentation by the Lake County Public Health Department and one from the Lake Area Planning Council on the Regional Transportation Plan.
The meeting will include a public hearing on a proposed travel expense ordinance and approval of a travel expense authorization and reimbursement policy for officers and employees.
Police Chief Brad Rasmussen will present the 2021 police after action report on the Independence Day fireworks operations.
Community Development Director Jenni Byers will present the draft resolution authorizing the city manager to sign the statement of assurances and submit an application for the State Community Development Block Grant Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Rounds 2 and 3, for improvements to the Silveira Community Center, as well as the resolution approving an amendment to a 2017 resolution to include the use of program income for the Forbes Creek Neighborhood Study in the City of Lakeport’s 2017 CDBG Application.
In other business, the council will consider a draft resolution to declare as surplus several city-owned properties, including the former police station, the Dutch Harbor property and a small portion of vacant land not included in the Lakefront Park Project, and direct staff to distribute a notice of availability to the California Department of Housing and Community Development, agencies and interested entities.
City Manager Kevin Ingram will ask for authorization to sign the third amendment to the joint powers agreement joining the Lake County Community Risk Reduction Authority and designate a city representative on the authority.
Public Works Director Doug Grider will take to the council a $577,106 construction contract with Argonaut Constructors for the North Main Street Paving Project.
On the consent agenda — items usually accepted as a slate on one vote — are ordinances; warrants; minutes of the regular council meeting on Aug. 10; and approval of event application 2021-019, with staff recommendations, for the 2021 Konocti Challenge on Oct. 2, 2021.
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.
NORTH COAST, Calif. — It’s as if there is something sacred about this work. No power tools. No heavy equipment. Everything is done by hand. Nothing that would create so much as a spark.
“I like to think that we’re giving the trail a makeover,” said California Conservation Corps Ukiah Corpsmember Madison Troop.
She and a crew of corpsmembers from the California Conservation Corps are undoing some of the damage the August Complex fire did a year ago to the Mendocino National Forest’s hiking trails.
“If there’s a downed log in the trail we have to move it,” said Ukiah Corpsmember Lane Hengel. “I cut a tree by hand with a hand saw the other day. It’s awesome, but it was a lot of work. It took me about ten minutes to get through a log about three feet thick.”
The flames of the August Complex fire downed and weakened trees. The series of lightning sparked fires ignited Aug. 17, 2020, and burned for four months. Many of the fire damaged trees have fallen across the trails, which is where Ukiah Center corpsmembers are putting in the most work as they remove these hazards by hand.
And it’s not just fire damage that needs undoing. The closing of these wilderness trails for the past year, allowed for brush and vegetation to become overgrown and take over.
“We’re clearing the trails 6 feet in width,” said Troop. “If there’s something hanging over the trail, we’re pulling it down. On some of the trails we’ve worked on there was so much brush you didn’t even know it was a trail.”
Troop and Hengel are among 15 corpsmembers tasked with the hands-on work. Wilderness rules and the risk of sparks requires the crew to only use hand tools. No motorized equipment is used.
Instead, teams of corpsmembers are using two-person crosscut saws to clear the way for future hikers, horses, or even vehicles.
“Trail building and maintenance, as well as wildland fire recovery, is what we do best,” said CCC Director Bruce Saito. “Our corpsmembers get hands-on experience that can lead them to careers in our forests and parks. They also get the added benefit of improving and positively impacting their local communities and state with projects like this.”
Corpsmembers from the CCC’s Ukiah Center recently concluded several weeks in the Lower Nye Valley area near Lake Pillsbury. The crew camped near the project site for eight straight days to better access the damaged trails. The scenery provided a great experience for corpsmembers as they hauled themselves and their hand tools throughout the wilderness.
“We’re hiking every day,” Hengel said. “The last trail we worked on we did about 24 miles of hiking over the week. It’s been really fun.”
The 18- to 25-year-olds, and U.S. military veterans through age 29, who enroll in the CCC embrace the motto of “Hard Work, Low Pay, Miserable Conditions, and More!”
Hengel and Troop both know that a year doing project work like this, especially in miserable conditions, can help lead to skills and careers in wildland firefighting, forestry and more.
To learn more, visit http://ccc.ca.gov or call 800-952-5627 to speak to a recruiter today.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said it is continuing to anticipate the need to go forward with a public safety power shutoff on Tuesday evening, reporting that the number of customers has increased by several thousand accounts and two more counties.
An offshore dry windstorm that’s expected to start on Tuesday evening is driving the plans for the public safety power shutoff, or PSPS, the company said.
PG&E said its meteorologists are tracking a weather system that could bring sustained winds of up to 40 miles per hour, gusting higher in foothills and mountains.
The National Weather Service issued fire weather watches in the potential shutoff areas Tuesday through Wednesday based on forecasts for dry, northerly winds and low relative humidity.
Lake County is among the areas included in the fire weather watch, in effect from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 8 p.m. Wednesday.
The Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center’s North Operations Predictive Services also issued a high-risk fire warning Tuesday through Wednesday due to “an unusually gusty early-season” windstorm.
PG&E first began notifying customers of the potential PSPS on Sunday night, at which time it was expecting 16 counties — including portions of Lake — and 39,000 customers in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the North Coast, the North Valley and the North Bay mountains would be impacted.
On Monday evening, the number of customers in the potential outage area was up to 48,000, with Colusa and Nevada now joining a coverage area that includes Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Napa, Plumas, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba counties.
PG&E said most of the affected customers — approximately 31,000 — are in Butte and Shasta counties.
PG&E said the outage, if it goes forward, would begin on Tuesday evening and continue through Wednesday afternoon.
In Lake County, the number of customers that would be affected has dropped from more than 2,700 to approximately 2,083 customers, including 136 Medical Baseline customers, PG&E reported.
PG&E mapping showed that the projected outage in Lake County included Cobb, areas east and north of Clearlake Oaks, areas east of Lower Lake and Middletown. Portions of Hidden Valley Lake have been added to the outage area.
The estimated time of the shutoff for Lake County is between 9 and 10 p.m. Tuesday, with estimated restoration around noon on Wednesday, PG&E reported.
In addition to Lake County, impacted counties and the estimated numbers of customers are as follows:
Butte County: 11,114 customers, 1,027 Medical Baseline customers. Colusa County: 509 customers, 33 Medical Baseline customers. Glenn County: 207 customers, 10 Medical Baseline customers. Humboldt County: 681 customers, 16 Medical Baseline customers. Lassen County: 65 customers, 7 Medical Baseline customers. Mendocino County: 669 customers, 30 Medical Baseline customers. Napa County: 2,041 customers, 99 Medical Baseline customers. Nevada County: 133 customers, 3 Medical Baseline customers. Plumas County: 660 customers, 24 Medical Baseline customers. Shasta County: 19,999 customers, 1,713 Medical Baseline customers. Sierra County: 1,036 customers, 30 Medical Baseline customers. Solano County: 44 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers. Sonoma County: 240 customers, 9 Medical Baseline customers. Tehama County: 7,473 customers, 671 Medical Baseline customers. Trinity County: 428 customers, 21 Medical Baseline customers. Yolo County: 11 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers. Yuba County: 487 customers, 47 Medical Baseline customers.
PG&E customers can look up their addresses to find out if their location is being monitored for the potential safety shutoff at www.pge.com/pspsupdates.
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.
This female domestic short hair kitten has a black coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 11d, ID No. LCAC-A-1145.
Domestic medium hair cat
This 3-year-old female domestic medium hair cat has a brown tabby coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 58, ID No. LCAC-A-1029.
Male domestic shorthair
This male domestic shorthair has a gray and white coat.
He is 1-year-old and weighs nearly 6 pounds.
He is in cat room kennel No. 120, ID No. LCAC-A-874.
Female domestic shorthair
This 2-year-old female domestic shorthair cat has a white coat and blue eyes.
She is in cat room kennel No. C123, ID No. LCAC-A-1152.
Female domestic shorthair
This 1-year-old female domestic shorthair cat has a black coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 135, ID No. LCAC-A-1133.
Domestic shorthair kittens
Two of the kittens in this litter remain available for adoption.
They are both males, No. 125B and ID No. LCAC-A-1139, and a No. 125C and ID No. LCAC-A-1140.
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.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Clearlake City Council is set to discuss a proposal to purchase a property that once housed a water park for retail development.
The council will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 19, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
Comments and questions can be submitted in writing for City Council consideration by sending them to City Clerk Melissa Swanson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
To give the council adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit your written comments before 4 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 19.
Each public comment emailed to the city clerk will be read aloud by the mayor or a member of staff for up to three minutes or will be displayed on a screen. Public comment emails and town hall public comment submissions that are received after the beginning of the meeting will not be included in the record.
The meeting will feature a presentation of August's adoptable dogs and a proclamation declaring Aug. 31 as International Overdose Awareness Day.
Under council business, City Manager Alan Flora will present to the council a proposal to purchase 11.28 acres of property located at 6885 and 7110 Old Highway 53 from the Burbank Housing and Development Corp. for a retail center development. The purchase price is $1 million.
The property, at the former Pearce Field airport, was home to the former Outrageous Waters water park, which closed in 2005.
“The city currently owns approximately 28 acres which comprised the former Pearce Field airport west of Highway 53. The City recently approved the sale of approximately 2.5 acres of the property for development of a Fairfield Inn and Suites and is working with various developers, business owners, retailers and investors with an interest in the overall project,” Flora wrote in his report to the council.
He said the city has been working with the firm Retail Strategies and others to attract retail interest in the retail development that has long been envisioned for the former airport site. “Interest has been quite strong and many of the pieces necessary for a successful development are starting to come together.”
Flora said it became apparent that having control over the bulk of the developable area would be helpful for a consistent and cohesive development plan. He said the 11-acre property, the location of the former water park, was part of the original airport site the city acquired from the county in 1994.
City staff contacted Burbank Housing Development, a Sonoma County-based affordable housing developer, about the property. Burbank, which was given the site and has owned it since 2017, has no plans to do any development in Lake County, Flora said.
“This purchase will give the City control of nearly 40 acres of development area along Highway 53 and will allow more strategic master planning of the entire site. The City is currently working with architecture firm Ankrom Moisan on the site master plan,” Flora said.
Upon closing of the purchase of the property, Flora said the city will begin demolition of the remaining infrastructure from the water park — such as the racetrack and batting cages — in order to prepare the site for development.
Flora said the city expects to begin construction of the road and utility infrastructure at the site in the spring of 2022.
In other business, staff will ask the council to consider a resolution approving an application for funding to the state for Community Development Block Grant Coronavirus Response funding not to exceed $1 million for improvements at the Hope Center, a transitional housing facility.
Flora’s report on the item said the city has partnered with Adventist Health, Hope Rising and other local partners to develop the center, but additional improvements are needed, including curb gutter and sidewalks, and an energy microgrid system, which are eligible for funding through the CDBG-CV Home Key program.
“The Hope Center renovation was funded in large part by the first round of Home Key funding in 2020 with the County as a sponsor. The County is not interested in sponsoring the current application, so the City has stepped up. The City will be the applicant and will pass through the funds to the Hope Center, but will rely on Adventist Health and Hope Rising for reporting and administrative support of the grant process,” Flora said.
The council also will discuss resolutions to be taken up at the 2021 League of California Cities Annual Conference.
On the meeting's consent agenda — items that are not considered controversial and are usually adopted on a single vote — are warrants, minutes of the July 14 Lake County Vector Control District Board meeting, the second ready and adoption of Ordinance No. 256-2021, an amendment to Chapter 17 of the Clearlake Municipal Code repealing and replacing floodplain management regulations, minutes of the July 15 council meeting and authorization of an agreement for a remodel of the City Hall breakroom.
Following the meeting, the council will have a closed session for conference with legal counsel regarding a lawsuit against the county of Lake and Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Pacific Gas and Electric said Sunday night that high winds forecast over parts of Northern California on Tuesday could lead to a public safety power shutoff for 39,000 customers in Lake and 15 other counties.
The company, which opened its emergency operations center on Sunday, said its meteorologists and operations professionals are monitoring a potential dry offshore windstorm forecast to start Tuesday evening.
Due to concerns about the combination of this windstorm, the drought and dry vegetation, PG&E began sending out 48-hour advance notifications to customers on Sunday in targeted areas where the power shutoff may take place to reduce the risk of wildfire from energized power lines.
PG&E said the shutoff could impact 39,000 customers in small portions of 16 counties in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the North Coast, the North Valley and the North Bay mountains.
The majority of customers — about 27,000 — are in Butte and Shasta counties, however, PG&E said it is also notifying customers who may experience safety shutoffs in portions of 14 other counties: Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Napa, Plumas, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba.
In Lake County, 2,727 customers — of those, 184 in the Medical Baseline program — are expected to be impacted if the outage takes place, PG&E said.
A PG&E map of the potential outage area shows the impacted Lake County customers would be in the Clearlake Oaks, Cobb, Lower Lake and Middletown areas.
Other counties and their numbers of customers included in the proposed outage area are:
— Butte County: 13,841 customers, 1,366 Medical Baseline customers. — Glenn County: 17 customers, 2 Medical Baseline customers. — Humboldt County: 643 customers, 13 Medical Baseline customers, — Lassen County: 65 customers, 7 Medical Baseline customers. — Mendocino County: 239 customers, 15 Medical Baseline customers. — Napa County: 1,804 customers, 87 Medical Baseline customers. — Plumas County: 778 customers, 27 Medical Baseline customers. — Shasta County: 14,027 customers, 1,239 Medical Baseline customers. — Sierra County: 1,035 customers, 30 Medical Baseline customers. — Solano County: 71 customers, 3 Medical Baseline customers. — Sonoma County: 106 customers, 1 Medical Baseline customer. — Tehama County: 2,856 customers, 219 Medical Baseline customers. — Trinity County: 426 customers, 21 Medical Baseline customers. — Yolo County: 100 customers, 4 Medical Baseline customers. — Yuba County: 531 customers, 49 Medical Baseline customers.
PG&E customers can look up their addresses to find out if their location is being monitored for the potential safety shutoff at www.pge.com/pspsupdates.
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.
The world watched in July 2021 as extreme rainfall became floods that washed away centuries-old homes in Europe, triggered landslides in Asia and inundated subways in China. More than 900 people died in the destruction. In North America, the West was battling fires amid an intense drought that is affecting water and power supplies.
In a new international climate assessment published Aug. 9, 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that the water cycle has been intensifying and will continue to intensify as the planet warms.
The report, which I worked on as a lead author, documents an increase in both wet extremes, including more intense rainfall over most regions, and dry extremes, including drying in the Mediterranean, southwestern Australia, southwestern South America, South Africa and western North America. It also shows that both wet and dry extremes will continue to increase with future warming.
Why is the water cycle intensifying?
Water cycles through the environment, moving between the atmosphere, ocean, land and reservoirs of frozen water. It might fall as rain or snow, seep into the ground, run into a waterway, join the ocean, freeze or evaporate back into the atmosphere. Plants also take up water from the ground and release it through transpiration from their leaves. In recent decades, there has been an overall increase in the rates of precipitation and evaporation.
A number of factors are intensifying the water cycle, but one of the most important is that warming temperatures raise the upper limit on the amount of moisture in the air. That increases the potential for more rain.
This aspect of climate change is confirmed across all of our lines of evidence: It is expected from basic physics, projected by computer models, and it already shows up in the observational data as a general increase of rainfall intensity with warming temperatures.
Understanding this and other changes in the water cycle is important for more than preparing for disasters. Water is an essential resource for all ecosystems and human societies, and particularly agriculture.
An intensifying water cycle means that both wet and dry extremes and the general variability of the water cycle will increase, although not uniformly around the globe.
Rainfall intensity is expected to increase for most land areas, but the largest increases in dryness are expected in the Mediterranean, southwestern South America and western North America.
Globally, daily extreme precipitation events will likely intensify by about 7% for every 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) that global temperatures rise.
Many other important aspects of the water cycle will also change in addition to extremes as global temperatures increase, the report shows, including reductions in mountain glaciers, decreasing duration of seasonal snow cover, earlier snowmelt and contrasting changes in monsoon rains across different regions, which will impact the water resources of billions of people.
The IPCC does not make policy recommendations. Instead, it provides the scientific information needed to carefully evaluate policy choices. The results show what the implications of different choices are likely to be.
One thing the scientific evidence in the report clearly tells world leaders is that limiting global warming to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 C (2.7 F) will require immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Regardless of any specific target, it is clear that the severity of climate change impacts are closely linked to greenhouse gas emissions: Reducing emissions will reduce impacts. Every fraction of a degree matters.