LAKEPORT, Calif. – At its October meeting, the Lakeport Planning Commission approved a daycare expansion, approved an architectural and design review for a commercial property and gave the go-ahead for a couple who lost their home in the Valley fire last year to build a new home in the city.
The commission on Oct. 12 approved Jamie Young Day Care's plans to expand into a large daycare facility in an existing single family residence at 1097 N. Tunis.
Young currently is operating a small daycare facility, which under state licensing requirements can have a maximum of eight children, according to city Associate Planner Dan Chance.
Requirements for the larger operation include a use permit, an outdoor play area that's enclosed by a 4-foot fence plus a 6-foot fence separating it from other properties, operating hours of 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., two onsite parking spaces and certain fire safety precautions, Chance said.
Chance said there currently are other daycare facilities about a half-mile away. He said staff recommended that two onsite parking spaces be used for dropoff and pickup, and noted that the facility proposes hours of 4:15 a.m. to 6 p.m. due to the fact that some of the parents work out-of-county. He said he believes the location works well for the early morning dropoff needs.
Due to concerns about sight distance, the commission gave consensus to add language to the requirements to include maintaining vegetation to appropriate standards.
Young told the commission during her brief comments that she hopes to have at least 14 children in her program.
The city received one letter voicing concerns from a resident of the area who believed the area is too dangerous to accommodate a facility, that the site isn't large enough and that he's heard other neighbors complain.
The commission moved to approve the project 4-0, with Commissioner Harold Taylor absent.
The commission also approved the architectural and design review for West Lake Auto at 2195 S. Main St., where two structures were built without required planning and building permits.
The project consisted of legalizing those two buildings – one an auto sales office, the second a commercial garage.
Because the property valuations would exceed the $56,874 valuation threshold at which frontage improvements would need to be made – which the city suggested should include 342 feet of curb and gutter – the city gave applicant Heath Fifield the choice of making the improvements or reducing the square footage so that the valuation would be reduced and the improvements would not be triggered.
Fifield told the commission he intended to do the latter, which would involve removing a 450-square-foot storage area on the garage/shop building.
Chair Ken Wicks Jr. said he wanted the timeframe to get building permits shortened to six months.
In other business, the commission unanimously approved Donald and Mary Einarsson's plans for a new home at 2024 Hampton Park in the Victorian Village development across from Kmart.
General contractor Bob Ore said the home needed to have most of its amenities on the first floor due to the needs of the Einarssons, an elderly couple whose home burned in the Valley fire.
The home matches the Victorian/Queen Anne-style homes in the development with a turret but at a lower elevation than the other homes. Ore said the development's guiding documents don't require a turret as a design element but only that it meets architectural guidelines.
The three-bedroom home is about 1,500 square feet, a reduction of about 400 square feet from the original design. Ore said the downstairs has a living room, a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom that meets the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the additional bedrooms upstairs.
“I think it's going to be a good enhancement to the area,” said Ore.
Commissioner Suzanne Russell originally wanted the turret to be made to rise higher, but during the discussion it was decided that making such changes would only increase the cost of the already expensive building project.
Ray Somberg, one of Victorian Village's owners and president of the homeowners association, said the association favored the project as proposed.
“I think this is a good step forward. I encourage a lot more of it,” Wicks said before the commission voted to approve the project.
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.
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