Caltrans is recruiting volunteers who reside and travel in rural and tribal communities to participate in the latest testing phase of a “road charge” pilot.
Up to 500 volunteers will participate in a seven-month simulated road charge system, which charges drivers based on the number of miles they travel rather than the amount of gas they use to support the state’s critical transportation infrastructure.
There will be no cost to participate, and upon completion, volunteers will be eligible to receive an incentive of up to $250.
“Rural and tribal communities have unique travel needs and may interact with a road charge system in different ways,” said Caltrans Director Tony Tavares. “It is essential that Caltrans understands their needs as it develops an equitable and convenient alternative to the gas tax.”
Starting in March 2023, the California Road Charge Public-Private Roads Project will explore the technical aspects of reporting mileage, as well as engage rural and tribal communities in a conversation about their communities’ priorities in a potential road charge system to fund road and highway maintenance.
This pilot will simulate how participants interact with a road charge system by reporting mileage and “paying” mock invoices. The pilot will conduct surveys to gauge participants’ preferences and experience.
As vehicles become more fuel-efficient and the state’s transition to zero-emission vehicles accelerates, Caltrans is researching possible alternatives to the state gas tax, which California has historically relied on to build and maintain the state’s transportation system.
Volatile oil prices and California’s phasing out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035 add increased urgency to research ways to bring long-term stability to transportation funding. For that reason, Caltrans is testing various methods to collect per-mile rather than per-gallon fees.
This demonstration is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Surface Transportation System Funding Alternatives Program and will build on Caltrans’ previous road charge pilots: California’s Road Charge Pilot in 2017, which introduced the road charge concept to Californians, and California’s Four-Phase Demonstration, which tested the road charge concept across several platforms including pay-at-the-pump and electric vehicle charging station systems, usage-based insurance, transportation network company fleets, and automated vehicles.
Volunteers interested in participating in the pilot — and the incentive of up to $250 — may visit http://www.caroadcharge.com/projects/public-private-roads-project/ and complete the participant recruitment survey.
Participants must be California residents over the age of 18. The pilot is employing the highest standards in data protection and safeguarding, ensuring that Caltrans will not receive any sensitive information from participants.
To learn more about the California Road Charge Project and the Road Charge Program, please visit www.caroadcharge.com.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lakeport officials are working on addressing traffic safety issues for several areas of the city.
City Manager Kevin Ingram presented a traffic safety update to the Lakeport City Council at its first meeting of the year on Jan. 3.
In his comments and written report to the council, Ingram presented observed trends in received traffic safety related complaints to the city.
Ingram said the city began tracking safety related complaints in June 2015 and more recently began providing updates to the City Council.
In 2022, the city only received five written complaints, the most notable for which related to Westside Community Park when large events were taking place, he said.
Traffic issues at the park came up in 2022 in relation to the new apartment project to be built next to the Parkside Subdivision.
Ingram said city staff are planning to review red curbing along access driveways and fire hydrants near the park, will work with youth sporting organizations on traffic issues and plan to have law enforcement conduct direct traffic enforcement during larger events.
The council approved a local road safety plan in March that addressed the city’s most problematic areas. That plan is meant to help the city obtain grant funding, and Ingram said the city is working with the Lake Area Planning Council, or APC, on those grants.
Five areas he discussed that also have actions recommended in the local road safety plan are the pedestrian crossing on Lakeport Boulevard between Larrecou and Forbes; Lakeshore Boulevard corridor between Giselman and Lange; the North Main, Clearlake Avenue and North High Street corridor; and the Eleventh Street and Forbes flashing stop sign.
Regarding Lakeport Boulevard between Larrecou and Forbes, Ingram said the city has contracted with a traffic engineering firm to prepare a project study report that will address bike and pedestrian improvements along with the study of a mid-block crossing near the Bell Alamo shopping Center. He said there is $1.2 million in funding through the Lake APC for the completion of this project.
Ingram said there is a separate traffic engineering study underway that’s related to the proposed courthouse project on Lakeport Boulevard adjacent to the Vista Point outlook that is looking specifically at intersection improvements at Bevins and Larrecou along that corridor.
Ingram said city staff have not received any new traffic related complaints involving the Lakeshore Boulevard corridor between Giselman and Lange.
He said it will be studied in a project study report that is underway for a new Safe Routes to School project as well as through the Sustainable Communities Transportation Planning grant the city recently received.
Ingram said the city’s goal for that area is the construction of a contiguous sidewalk from the city limits to 20th and Hartley.
For the corridor including North Main, Clearlake Avenue and North High Street Corridor, Ingram said additional signage and enhanced pavement markings have been completed in the corridor in accordance with the local road safety plan’s recommendations.
At that point, Ingram said there had been some accidents related to turning movements at Clear Lake and Main and staff was working with the city engineer to identify possible mitigation measures.
There also had been additional collisions in the intersection at 11th and Forbes streets since the last report to the council, Ingram said.
As a result, staff recommended installing flashing LED-embedded stop signs at this location, like those located at the intersection of Third and Main streets, which are proven to make unsignalized intersections safer by slowing people down and reminding drivers to make a full and complete stop.
Ingram said the city is cognizant of the impact of flashing lights on neighbors, so they are looking at installing signs that are active during the daytime but will turn off at night so as not to be a nuisance.
During the meeting Ingram also reported that staff had discussed in a recent meeting the value of parking a speed trailer in problem areas to slow speeds.
However, the Lakeport Police Department’s speed trailer has exceeded its life so Chief Brad Rasmussen is looking for grant funds to replace it.
Ingram also reported that recent federal court decisions have called into question the legality of enforcement methods such as tire chalking, but in the weeks before the council meeting, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that tire chalking is not a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
As a result, he said that, given its staffing challenges, the Lakeport Police Department is studying the potential use of officer trainees in order to have parking enforcement in the downtown area.
During public comment, Dr. David Browning noted, “We all know lakeport has many traffic safety challenges.”
He said driving habits are going downhill everywhere, not just in Lakeport. People run right through stop signs, do U-turns everywhere and are parking on the wrong side of the road. He questioned what could be done to educate the public.
Nathan Maxman pointed out that in other cities people can text concerns and complaints to code enforcement.
City Clerk/Administrative Services Manager Kelly Buendia said the city’s website has a “How Do I” section that explains how to file a complaint. Those complaints go to her office and she routes them to the correct department.
Buendia said the city keeps a separate database of traffic safety complaints.
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 Lake County Sheriff’s Office said it has located a woman reported missing earlier this month.
Nancy Mingey, 55, Lakeport, had not been seen or heard from since early January and was reported missing to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 19.
The sheriff’s office said she was located and is safe in Sacramento.
The agency thanked everyone who assisted in finding her.
California is embarking on an audacious new climate plan that aims to eliminate the state’s greenhouse gas footprint by 2045, and in the process, slash emissions far beyond its borders. The blueprint calls for massive transformations in industry, energy and transportation, as well as changes in institutions and human behaviors.
These transformations won’t be easy. Two years of developing the plan have exposed myriad challenges and tensions, including environmental justice, affordability and local rule.
For example, the San Francisco Fire Commission had prohibited batteries with more than 20 kilowatt-hours of power storage in homes, severely limiting the ability to store solar electricity from rooftop solar panels for all those times when the sun isn’t shining. More broadly, local opposition to new transmission lines, large-scale solar and wind facilities, substations for truck charging, and oil refinery conversions to produce renewable diesel will slow the transition.
I had a front row seat while the plan was prepared and vetted as a longtime board member of the California Air Resources Board, the state agency that oversees air pollution and climate control. And my chief contributor to this article, Rajinder Sahota, is deputy executive officer of the board, responsible for preparing the plan and navigating political land mines.
We believe California has a chance of succeeding, and in the process, showing the way for the rest of the world. In fact, most of the needed policies are already in place.
What happens in California has global reach
What California does matters far beyond state lines.
In the U.S., through peculiarities in national air pollution law, other states have replicated many of California’s regulations and programs so they can race ahead of national policies. States can either follow federal vehicle emissions standards or California’s stricter rules. There is no third option. An increasing number of states now follow California.
So, even though California contributes less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, if it sets a high bar, its many technical, institutional and behavioral innovations will likely spread and be transformative.
What’s in the California blueprint
The new Scoping Plan lays out in considerable detail how California intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 48% below 1990 levels by 2030 and then achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.
It calls for a 94% reduction in petroleum use between 2022 and 2045 and an 86% reduction in total fossil fuel use. Overall, it would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 85% by 2045 relative to 1990 levels. The remaining 15% reduction would come from capturing carbon from the air and fossil fuel plants, and sequestering it below ground or in forests, vegetation and soils.
To achieve these goals, the plan calls for a 37-fold increase in on-road zero-emission vehicles, a sixfold increase in electrical appliances in residences, a fourfold increase in installed wind and solar generation capacity, and doubling total electricity generation to run it all. It also calls for ramping up hydrogen power and altering agriculture and forest management to reduce wildfires, sequester carbon dioxide and reduce fertilizer demand.
This is a massive undertaking, and it implies a massive transformation of many industries and activities.
Transportation: California’s No. 1 emitter
Transportation accounts for about half of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, including upstream oil refinery emissions. This is where the path forward is perhaps most settled.
The state has already adopted regulations requiring almost all new cars, trucks and buses to have zero emissions – new transit buses by 2029 and most truck sales and light-duty vehicle sales by 2035.
In addition, California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard requires oil companies to steadily reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels. This regulation aims to ensure that the liquid fuels needed for legacy cars and trucks still on the road after 2045 will be low-carbon biofuels.
But regulations can be modified and even rescinded if opposition swells. If battery costs do not resume their downward slide, if electric utilities and others lag in providing charging infrastructure, and if local opposition blocks new charging sites and grid upgrades, the state could be forced to slow its zero-emission vehicle requirements.
The plan also relies on changes in human behavior. For example, it calls for a 25% reduction in vehicle miles traveled in 2030 compared with 2019, which has far dimmer prospects. The only strategies likely to significantly reduce vehicle use are steep charges for road use and parking, a move few politicians or voters in the U.S. would support, and a massive increase in shared-ride automated vehicles, which are not likely to scale up for at least another 10 years. Additional charges for driving and parking raise concerns about affordability for low-income commuters.
Electricity and electrifying buildings
The key to cutting emissions in almost every sector is electricity powered by renewable energy.
Electrifying most everything means not just replacing most of the state’s natural gas power plants, but also expanding total electricity production – in this case doubling total generation and quadrupling renewable generation, in just 22 years.
That amount of expansion and investment is mind-boggling – and it is the single most important change for reaching net zero, since electric vehicles and appliances depend on the availability of renewable electricity to count as zero emissions.
Electrification of buildings is in the early stages in California, with requirements in place for new homes to have rooftop solar, and incentives and regulations adopted to replace natural gas use with heat pumps and electric appliances.
The biggest and most important challenge is accelerating renewable electricity generation – mostly wind and utility-scale solar. The state has laws in place requiring electricity to be 100% zero emissions by 2045 – up from 52% in 2021.
The plan to get there includes offshore wind power, which will require new technology – floating wind turbines. The federal government in December 2022 leased the first Pacific sites for offshore wind farms, with plans to power over 1.5 million homes. However, years of technical and regulatory work are still ahead.
For solar power, the plan focuses on large solar farms, which can scale up faster and at less cost than rooftop solar. The same week the new scoping plan was announced, California’s Public Utility Commission voted to significantly scale back how much homeowners are reimbursed for solar power they send to the grid, a policy known as net metering. The Public Utility Commission argues that because of how electricity rates are set, generous rooftop solar reimbursements have primarily benefited wealthier households while imposing higher electricity bills on others. It believes this new policy will be more equitable and create a more sustainable model.
Industry and the carbon capture challenge
Industry plays a smaller role, and the policies and strategies here are less refined.
The state’s carbon cap-and-trade program, designed to ratchet down total emissions while allowing individual companies some flexibility, will tighten its emissions limits.
But while cap-and-trade has been effective to date, in part by generating billions of dollars for programs and incentives to reduce emissions, its role may change as energy efficiency improves and additional rules and regulations are put in place to replace fossil fuels.
One of the greatest controversies throughout the Scoping Plan process is its reliance on carbon capture and sequestration, or CCS. The controversy is rooted in concern that CCS allows fossil fuel facilities to continue releasing pollution while only capturing the carbon dioxide emissions. These facilities are often in or near disadvantaged communities.
California’s chances of success
Will California make it? The state has a track record of exceeding its goals, but getting to net zero by 2045 requires a sharper downward trajectory than even California has seen before, and there are still many hurdles.
Environmental justice concerns about carbon capture and new industrial facilities, coupled with NIMBYism, could block many needed investments. And the possibility of sluggish economic growth could led to spending cuts and might exacerbate concerns about economic disruption and affordability.
There are also questions about prices and geopolitics. Will the upturn in battery costs in 2022 – due to geopolitical flare-ups, a lag in expanding the supply of critical materials, and the war in Ukraine – turn out to be a hiccup or a trend? Will electric utilities move fast enough in building the infrastructure and grid capacity needed to accommodate the projected growth in zero-emission cars and trucks?
It is encouraging that the state has already created just about all the needed policy infrastructure. Additional tightening of emissions limits and targets will be needed, but the framework and policy mechanisms are largely in place.
Rajinder Sahota, deputy executive officer of the California Air Resources Board, contributed to this article.
Daniel Sperling, Distinguished Blue Planet Prize Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Founding Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis
As an economist, I know that defaulting on the national debt would have real-life consequences. Even the threat of pushing the U.S. into default has an economic impact. In August 2021, the mere prospect of a potential default led to an unprecedented downgrade of the the nation’s credit rating, hurting America’s financial prestige as well as countless individuals, including retirees.
And that was caused by the mere specter of default. An actual default would be far more damaging.
Dollar’s collapse
Possibly the most serious consequence would be the collapse of the U.S. dollar and its replacement as global trade’s “unit of account.” That essentially means that it is widely used in global finance and trade.
Day to day, most Americans are likely unaware of the economic and political power that goes with being the world’s unit of account. Currently, more than half of world trade – from oil and gold to cars and smartphones – is in U.S. dollars, with the euro accounting for around 30% and all other currencies making up the balance.
As a result of this dominance, the U.S. is the only country on the planet that can pay its foreign debt in its own currency. This gives both the U.S. government and American companies tremendous leeway in international trade and finance.
No matter how much debt the U.S. government owes foreign investors, it can simply print the money needed to pay them back – although for economic reasons, it may not be wise to do so. Other countries must buy either the dollar or the euro to pay their foreign debt. And the only way for them to do so is to either to export more than they import or borrow more dollars or euros on the international market.
The U.S. is free from such constraints and can run up large trade deficits – that is, import more than it exports – for decades without the same consequences.
For American companies, the dominance of the dollar means they’re not as subject to the exchange rate risk as are their foreign competitors. Exchange rate risk refers to how changes in the relative value of currencies may affect a company’s profitability.
Since international trade is generally denominated in dollars, U.S. businesses can buy and sell in their own currency, something their foreign competitors cannot do as easily. As simple as this sounds, it gives American companies a tremendous competitive advantage.
Since most foreign trade is denominated in the dollar, trade must go through an American bank at some point. This is one important way dollar dominance gives the U.S. tremendous political power, especially to punish economic rivals and unfriendly governments.
President Joe Biden did something similar against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. Limiting Russia’s access to the dollar has helped push the country into a recession that’s bordering on a depression.
No other country today could unilaterally impose this level of economic pain on another country. And all an American president currently needs is a pen.
Rivals rewarded
Another consequence of the dollar’s collapse would be enhancing the position of the U.S.‘s top rival for global influence: China.
While the euro would likely replace the dollar as the world’s primary unit of account, the Chinese yuan would move into second place.
If the yuan were to become a significant international unit of account, this would enhance China’s international position both economically and politically. As it is, China has been working with the other BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia and India – to accept the yuan as a unit of account. With the other three already resentful of U.S. economic and political dominance, a U.S. default would support that effort.
Beyond the impact on the dollar and the economic and political clout of the U.S., a default would be profoundly felt in many other ways and by countless people.
In the U.S., tens of millions of Americans and thousands of companies that depend on government support could suffer, and the economy would most likely sink into recession – or worse, given the U.S. is already expected to soon suffer a downturn. In addition, retirees could see the worth of their pensions dwindle.
The truth is, we really don’t know what will happen or how bad it will get. The scale of the damage caused by a U.S. default is hard to calculate in advance because it has never happened before.
But there’s one thing we can be certain of. If Republicans take their threat of default too far, the U.S. and Americans will suffer tremendously.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has three cats this week waiting to be adopted.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm for information on visiting or adopting.
The following cats at the shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Male domestic medium hair
This 3-year-old male domestic medium hair cat has a gray coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-4559.
‘Halo’
“Halo” is a 3-year-old male domestic shorthair cat with a gray tabby coat.
He is in kennel No. 77a, ID No. LCAC-A-4466.
‘Wednesday’
“Wednesday” is a 3-year-old female domestic shorthair cat with a gray tabby coat.
She is in kennel No. 77b, ID No. LCAC-A-4463.
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. — In early March, the Board of Supervisors’ five members will see their salaries jump by 40%, thanks to votes taken in December and earlier this month.
County staff brought the raise proposal to the board in November, at which point they were directed to bring back an ordinance no later than Jan. 23 for increasing board pay.
Voting 4-1, with Supervisor Bruno Sabatier casting the only no vote, the board approved the first reading of an ordinance amending Section 2-3A.1 of Article I, Chapter 2 of the Lake County Code, that raises the supervisors’ pay rate by 40%.
The second reading took place at the board’s first meeting of the year on Jan. 10. That vote also was 4-1, with Sabatier again voting no, following the item’s introduction and no public comment.
The new pay rate will be set at 38.6% of the salaries of Superior Court judges — which now total $231,174 — with the chair to receive an additional 5%.
The board’s base salary will now rise from $63,714 to $89,233.16 annually, a 40% increase.
Unlike most county ordinances, which go into effect after 30 days, this ordinance — because it involves supervisorial pay — won’t become effective until 60 days after passage, or around March 10.
It could still be challenged by a referendum, which under state law would require the submission of qualified signatures totaling 10% of the entire votes cast in Lake County for all candidates in the last gubernatorial election in November, which totaled 20,131 votes. So 2,013 verified signatures would be required for a referendum effort to succeed.
Previous major board raise encountered opposition
The last time the Board of Supervisors tried to give its members a raise of that magnitude — which occurred more than 20 years ago — a referendum stopped the effort, and nearly a year and a half passed as the board and community worked to find an acceptable solution.
In September of 1999, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to move forward with a more than 40% raise. The board’s pay at that time was $28,903 and was slated to increase to $40,649 in January 2000.
The 1999 board — whose members then included Gary Lewis, Karan Mackey, Bill Merriman, Ed Robey and Jeff Smith — argued that their workload and job commitments more than justified the increase.
However, Patricia McIvor of Lakeport led a petition drive to stop the raises. At that time, about 1,900 valid signatures were needed — a number not far off from what would be needed in a similar effort today.
Altogether, McIvor and the group opposed to the raises gathered more than 5,000 signatures — twice the number then-Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley had recommended they gather.
Pat McIvor died in 2014. Her daughter, Cathy McIvor, shared with Lake County News this week her memories of her mother’s determined effort to challenge the board’s action.
“She was just fired up about that,” she said of her mother’s reaction to the raise proposal.
Cathy McIvor said her mother spent months gathering the signatures. “I wasn’t able to talk to her for at least three or four months.”
Pat McIvor had her card table in the back of her Toyota pickup and she went all over the county, gathering signatures, her daughter recalled.
“Boy did she give it to ‘em,” Cathy McIvor said, adding that her mother could really say “no.”
Pat McIvor’s relentless efforts led to the Board of Supervisors voting unanimously to rescind the raise in December 1999.
Alternatively, the board wanted to pursue a plan to give its members a 13.33% increase over three years, a proposal the referendum’s supporters also opposed.
In January 2000, the supervisors accepted another proposal, which the board later changed to a 13.33% raise in the first year, with the board salaries later to be set at 60% of salaries of elected department heads.
That proposal later gave way to a third one in which they raised their pay to $32,756, and then asked then-Supervisor Robey to study the matter.
The board later asked the grand jury in December 2000 to consider how supervisors’ salaries should be raised and make a formal recommendation.
In February 2001, the grand jury presented its report, which included a recommendation to set board salaries at 55% of all elected officials as of July 1 of that year, which set them at more than $37,811, increasing to 60% of elected officials’ salaries as of July 1, 2003.
Two weeks later, the board voted 3-2 to approve the grand jury’s recommendations. Opposing the increase were then-supervisors Anthony Farrington and Rob Brown, who had defeated Mackey’s planning commissioner Peggy McCloud — who ran to succeed Mackey, who was retiring — and Merriman, respectively, in elections the previous year that had seen the raises being a campaign issue.
The board’s salaries had remained at 60% of the elected officials’ pay until the county began to implement the classification and compensation study in 2020.
In 2020 and 2021, the supervisor approved a total of $21 million in raises due to that study, as Lake County News has reported.
So far, while there has been talk in the community of a referendum effort, no one has come forward to lead it.
However, the raises may lead to sitting board members being challenged in upcoming elections, as was the case when Brown defeated Merriman and Farrington defeated McCloud.
Since McIvor’s successful challenge of the supervisorial raises, there have been other successful referendums but most have focused on marijuana rules.
The last successful referendum in the unincorporated county on any topic was in 2014, when enough signatures were gathered to challenge a marijuana cultivation ordinance passed by the Board of Supervisors.
An effort in the fall of 2020 to gather enough signatures to challenge a Public Health enforcement ordinance created due to COVID-19 came up short.
Editor’s note: Information about the 2000 election has been corrected.
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. — Residents of high fire areas across California are being granted additional time to give comments on the draft fire hazard severity zone map created by Cal Fire.
In response to a request for more time and clarity from groups including the League of California Cities and California State Association of Counties, Cal Fire has increased the comment period for an additional 60 days.
The deadline for public comment has now been extended from Friday, Feb. 3, to Tuesday, April 4, for a total of 110 days.
The new map will succeed one created in 2007.
It covers the State Responsibility Area, or SRA, overseen by Cal Fire. The agency describes the area as “unincorporated, rural areas, where wildfires tend to be frequent.”
The map ranks areas according to low, medium and high categories for fire risk.
Cal Fire’s new draft map shows that the areas in Lake County ranked as “very high” have increased by 31.5%.
As a result, of the 395,373 acres in Lake County in the SRA, 92.8% are in the very high category. Lake County ranks No. 5 statewide for the amount of acreage in that highest risk category.
Their concerns included how the map was created, how it is to be used and its potential negative impacts on Lake County’s property and homeowners, who already are facing challenges with climbing insurance rates and cancellations.
The Cal Fire analysis and algorithm used to create the map doesn’t take into account the work of residents to create defensible space, or the efforts of groups such as fire safe councils to promote fire hardening efforts.
In a statement on the time extension, the League of California Cities reported, “Based on the available data, it appears that there may be some discrepancies around local fire mitigation efforts, such as brush clearance, in the draft maps. Ignoring decades of meaningful data could result in costly inaccuracies and discourage collaboration between local governments and Cal Fire on this critical resource.”
HOW TO COMMENT
The Office of the State Fire Marshal will accept written comments on the map through Tuesday, April 4.
Written comments may be submitted by U.S. mail to the following address:
Office of the State Fire Marshal California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Attn: Scott Witt, Deputy Chief P.O. Box 944246 Sacramento, CA 94244-2460
Written comments can also be hand delivered or sent by courier to the contact person listed in this notice at the following address:
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Office of the State Fire Marshal C/O: Scott Witt California Natural Resources Building 715 P Street, 9th floor Sacramento, CA 95818
Written comments may also be delivered via email at the following address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For questions email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 916-633-7655.
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. — During a Tuesday morning hearing, members of the Board of Supervisors, the Lakeport Fire Protection District chief and Lake County residents raised concerns about the potential impact of a new statewide fire hazard severity zone map and how it could cause more challenges for county residents when it comes to fire insurance.
Cal Fire held a public hearing on the new map during the Board of Supervisors meeting.
Community members were allowed to give comments in person but not via Zoom, a requirement that was not stated in the public hearing announcement.
Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Battalion Chief Marshall Turbeville said those on Zoom who wanted to give comments in person could go to a meeting in another county.
However, comments can still be submitted in writing until Feb. 3.
The map looks at how much of the State Responsibility Area, or SRA, overseen by Cal Fire, is in various risk categories.
In a December announcement on the release of the map, Cal Fire said the new revision only updates areas in the SRA, which is described as California’s “unincorporated, rural areas, where wildfires tend to be frequent.”
The previous version of the map was created in 2007. The new version shows much of the state now moving into the “high risk” category, including most of Lake County.
Cal Fire’s map takes no account of defensible space — a practice Cal Fire urges homeowners to follow — and doesn’t record fire history or recent changes in landscape. It puts more store on landscape and how fire might behave. A computer algorithm is key to the analysis.
In Lake County, there are 395,373 acres in the SRA, a growth of 575 acres since 2007.
Of that total SRA acreage in Lake County, 366,812 acres are in the “very high” fire severity category, with 22,343 acres in the “high” and 6,218 acres in the “moderate” categories.
In this newest map, the “very high” category in Lake County has grown by 31.5%.
In addition, the percentage of Lake County’s SRA in the “very high” category is 92.8%. Counties with higher percentages of their SRA acreage in that highest category are Orange, with 96.7%; Trinity with 96.5%; Ventura, 95.9%; and Los Angeles, at 93%.
Turbeville presided over the public hearing on behalf of Cal Fire, explaining the map and showing a short video.
The video explained that the map models fire and applies scientific methods to model fire behavior like spread and intensity. They use factors such as slope and vegetation in their calculations.
The fire hazard severity model for wildland fire has two key elements — probability of an area burning and expected fire behavior under extreme fuel and weather conditions. The video said that the probability of an area burning is calculated using fire history from 1991 to 2020.
Cal Fire then estimates potential flame length based on vegetation type and climate.
Fire hazard severity zones are intended to measure potential hazards across multiple decades. Cal Fire uses a long term look at fuel development and does not adjust data inputs to account for recent fire or fuel management activities. Their goal is to know what a fire would be like in the worst fuel condition in an area.
Community members speak to concerns about the map
The California Insurance Commissioner’s Office said the maps “are intended to drive local planning decisions, not insurance decisions,” and that under Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s new regulation finalized in October 2022, “insurance companies must provide discounts for wildfire safety actions such as community mitigation and home-hardening, which Cal Fire’s maps do not assess. In addition, insurance companies are already using risk analysis tools and models that go beyond Cal Fire’s proposed maps in determining what properties they will underwrite.”
The public comments given during the hearing were unanimous in their criticisms and concerns about the map, and their concerns that the map is being used by insurance companies, despite Lara’s statement.
Randy Murphy, general manager of Hidden Valley Lake, said that the HVL community spends more than $1 million a year in fire mitigation efforts.
He said he hears about people all the time not getting renewed for their insurance, and he’s concerned that the map won’t help that.
Kathy Andre of Riviera Heights and Konocti Fire Safe Council said the map is being used by California insurance companies to cancel insurance, and that the California Insurance Commissioner’s Office uses it to assess fire risk, not fire hazard.
She said that practice is having drastic consequences for homeowners in high and very high fire zones.
“High fire hazard ratings and skyrocketing insurance premiums are competing to deter homeowners from doing mitigation work on their properties,” Andre said.
Bill Groody, president of the Buckingham Homeowners Association and a board member of the Konocti Fire Safe Council, pointed out that in the new map, the entire Buckingham peninsula is in the very high fire area, up from half from the last map. “That is a very significant change.”
Groody said he wasn’t there to argue about the data. “However well intentioned this map may be, we believe that it could very well undermine our efforts to reduce wildfire risk and could in fact inflict significant financial harm on the residents of Buckingham.”
He said the map is being used for underwriting and will be harmful to the council’s efforts. The council tells property owners about the benefits of weed clearing, taking down dead trees and home hardening, but when they see that their efforts are not being recognized, it makes the Fire Safe Council’s job of building a consensus around fire safety even more difficult.
“In short, the optics are terrible,” said Groody.
He called on Cal Fire to make it clear to the insurance industry in a very forceful way that this map is not intended for use as a sole source of denying coverage.
John Nowell, a retired battalion chief and another Konocti Fire Safety Council member, said the map arbitrarily placed areas in the highest severity zone.
He said the map provides an “incredible opportunity” for Cal Fire to add Firewise and Fire Safe councils to its algorithm when looking at fire risk areas.
Robert Geary, the Habematolel Pomo tribal historic preservation officer and director of cultural resources, wanted tribal communities to be included when maps are created, noting information about cultural resources is confidential.
During the board’s discussion, Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said the direction the state is going is only going to hurt rural areas.
He said rural California has not been the major contributor to climate change, but it is the major recipient of rules and regulations that will limit what can be done there.
This map and efforts to eliminate building in some parts of the state will lead to rules that will eventually eliminate any prospect of economic movement and progress in Lake County, Sabatier said. “So I’m very nervous about what this map means.”
He said the map is a slap in the face to efforts to mitigate fires. Sabatier also pointed out that since cities are exempt from being included in the SRA, he foresees that leading to a lot of cities being created or more areas annexed, as it puts unincorporated areas in an awkward situation. That’s not a good idea, economically or politically, he added.
Supervisor Moke Simon wanted to recognize the work that’s been done to deal with fire risk, from the county’s vegetation ordinance to its new home hardening program, with Lake being one of three counties statewide to have it so far. “We’re just starting to do that work.”
He raised issues with the algorithm, noting that when a computer’s making a decision, it doesn’t come out good. “This is just going to set us back.”
Simon urged community members to get their comments in and to let the governor and Cal Fire know they need to look at the situation in a different way.
Board Chair Jessica Pyska called the map a snapshot. “It doesn’t tell the whole story.”
She said that in recent years Lake County has experienced smaller fires, which she attributed to a combination of strategies from Cal Fire, local agencies and communities. Pyska said the map needs to show proactive work and layering, not just a moment in time.
“Data is critical, but so is looking at the adaptability,” Pyska said, noting that communities are working proactively.
Lakeport Fire Chief Patrick Reitz said he would like to see Cal Fire take a closer look at the mapping process, taking defensible space and home hardening into account. “Our zones are overly broad and we can narrow it down.”
He said the map is not having a good effect on the community, with his constituents asking why they are paying so much for insurance, and efforts on defensible space and home hardening, when it’s not reflected in the map.
Reitz said there is no penalty on the insurance companies for using the map against property owners. “The state has to be more aggressive and more helpful for its constituents.”
Pyska also pointed out that the map doesn’t show that entire communities have been rebuilt to the latest standards.
Supervisor Michael Green said he did not think they should game the hazard map to get a break on insurance but should accept what the hazard map says, as he believed the assessment to be “dead on.”
HOW TO COMMENT
The Office of the State Fire Marshal will accept written comments on the map through Friday, Feb. 3.
Written comments may be submitted by U.S. mail to the following address:
Office of the State Fire Marshal California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Attn: Scott Witt, Deputy Chief P.O. Box 944246 Sacramento, CA 94244-2460
Written comments can also be hand delivered or sent by courier to the contact person listed in this notice at the following address:
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Office of the State Fire Marshal C/O: Scott Witt California Natural Resources Building 715 P Street, 9th floor Sacramento, CA 95818
Written comments may also be delivered via email at the following address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For questions email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 916-633-7655.
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 this week will consider a tribe’s appeal of a new hotel project and discuss an agreement with the county for a new regional skate park.
The council will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
The meeting will be broadcast live on the city's YouTube channel or the Lake County PEGTV YouTube Channel. Community members also can participate via Zoom or can attend in person.
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. Thursday, Feb. 2.
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.
On Thursday, the council will hold a public hearing to consider an appeal of the Clearlake Planning Commission’s decision on Dec. 13 to grant a conditional use permit, design review and corresponding environmental analysis for a hotel development on 2.8 acres at 6356 Armijo Ave., part of the former Pearce Field airport property.
The Koi Nation of Northern California has appealed the project approval, alleging that the city’s tribal consultation process violates the California Environmental Quality Act.
Patel is proposing a 75-room Fairfield Inn by Marriott hotel, with a meeting hall and event center.
During the commission’s Dec. 13 meeting, there was no public comment on the proposal, and city staff said they had received no written input on it.
Also on Thursday, the council will discuss and consider a memorandum of understanding between the county of Lake and city of Clearlake for the design cost related to the regional skate park in Austin Park.
City Manager Alan Flora’s report to the council explains that the city has solicited the services of a qualified firm to provide a design plan for the Austin Skate Park.
“The current skate park is in disrepair and in need of upgrades. The proposed skate park will be an all-wheel, concrete skate spot and will provide a safe, designated place for users to develop their skills and gather with friends. The design will feature a mix of street and transition-style terrain, with elements designed for all age groups and ability levels. The design will meet the needs of the community while incorporating Crime Prevention through Environmental Design principles, including a seating area and ADA accessibility,” Flora wrote.
Flora said the city selected American Ramp Co. to provide design services for the project. The project is to be funded through an agreement with the county of Lake to utilize District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier’s cannabis funds allocation.
The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the MOU at its Jan. 24 meeting, Flora said.
“The City expects design work to take a few months, with the first survey and public input meeting to be completed in the next few weeks,” his report noted.
The cost of the design services is $43,500.
On Thursday the council also will present certificates of appreciation for Breakfast with Santa volunteers.
On the meeting's consent agenda — items that are considered routine in nature and usually adopted on a single vote — are warrants and adoption of a resolution authorizing the city of Clearlake’s submittal of applications for all CalRecycle Grants for which city of Clearlake is eligible.
The council also will hold a closed session following the public portion of the meeting to discuss a potential case of legal action.
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 East Region Town Hall, or ERTH, will meet on Wednesday, Feb. 1.
The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. at the Moose Lodge, located at 15900 Moose Lodge Lane in Clearlake Oaks.
The meeting will be available via Zoom. The pass code is 986 3245 2684.
Agenda items for Wednesday include a proposed revision to the ERTH bylaws.
Discussion topics also will include a Roadmap Taskforce update, the Clearlake Oaks consolidated lighting district, the Lake County Geothermal Project Watchlist, a commercial cannabis cultivation update, a request for review with ERTH by the Community Development Department and Sulphur Bank Mine Superfund Site public outreach.
There also will be updates on Spring Valley, the Northshore Fire Protection District, the Oaks Arm and Keys Restoration projects, and a report from Supervisor EJ Crandell.
The group’s next meeting will take place on March 1.
ERTH’s members are Denise Loustalot, Jim Burton, Tony Morris and Pamela Kicenski.
For more information visit the group’s Facebook page.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has many dogs of various ages and breeds ready to be adopted by new families.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Akita, Alaskan malamute, American blue heeler, Belgian Malinois, German shepherd, hound, husky, Labrador retriever, mastiff, pit bull, pointer, shepherd and terrier.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
‘Diesel’
“Diesel” is a 2-year-old male pit bull terrier with a short white coat with black markings.
He’s in kennel No. 31, ID No. LCAC-A-4549.
Lab-pit bull mix puppy
This female Labrador retriever-pit bull mix puppy has a short black coat with white markings.
She is in kennel No. 2, ID No. LCAC-A-4451.
American blue heeler-hound
This 5-month-old female American blue heeler-hound has a short brown and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 6a, ID No. LCAC-A-4521.
American blue heeler-hound
This 5-month-old female American blue heeler-hound has a short brindle coat.
She is in kennel No. 6b, ID No. LCAC-A-4522.
Male American blue heeler-hound
This 5-month-old male American blue heeler-hound has a short brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 9b, ID No. LCAC-A-4523.
Male Akita-shepherd mix
This 2-year-old male Akita-shepherd mix has a long brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 12, ID No. LCAC-A-4539.
Male Akita-shepherd
This 2-year-old male Akita-shepherd has a short fawn-colored coat.
He is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-4538.
Female husky
This 1-year-old female husky has a black and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 16, ID No. LCAC-A-4562.
‘Malachi’
“Malachi” is a 4-year-old male Alaskan malamute with a long black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 20, ID No. LCAC-A-4434.
‘Frankie’
“Frankie” is a 7-year-old male pit bull terrier with a short gray and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-4551.
Male German shepherd
This 7-year-old male German shepherd with a black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 29, ID No. LCAC-A-4561.
Female German shepherd
This 1-year-old female German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 30, ID No. LCAC-A-4486.
Male German shepherd
This 8-year-old male German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 32, ID No. LCAC-A-4518.
Male terrier
This 1-year-old male terrier has a tan and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 33, ID No. LCAC-A-4470.
Female pit bull terrier mix
This 2-year-old female pit bull terrier mix has a short brown and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-4599.
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.