- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
County and state complete land swap for sheriff’s office headquarters, housing project
Sen. Mike McGuire, who it was announced later on Wednesday had been named State Senate majority leader, gathered with officials from the city of Clearlake, the county of Lake and the state for an online event to give an update on the swap of the two properties.
“We’re making history today in the county of Lake,” said McGuire, explaining the partnership with the city, the county and the state.
In October, the Board of Supervisors voted to approve an agreement to finalize the property exchange with the state.
The county traded a vacant 15.5-acre property at 15837 18th Avenue in Clearlake to the state in exchange for the Lakeport Armory property, located on seven acres at 1431 Hoyt Ave. in Lakeport next to the Lake County Jail.
Three years ago this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-06-19, which directed the state’s Department of General Services to collaborate with the Department of Housing and Community Development and the California Housing Finance Agency to identify and prioritize excess state-owned property to address the state’s affordable housing shortage.
That executive order led to the land swap that McGuire said will build 82 desperately needed affordable housing units in Clearlake and provide the Lake County Sheriff’s Office with a new headquarters.
McGuire said Lake County’s project is also important because it’s the first land swap to take place in the state under Newsom’s January 2019 executive order.
He said no other region of the state has as desperate a need for affordable housing per capita as Lake County, which has seen 60% of its land mass burn due to wildland fires.
Those same fires destroyed 5% of Lake County’s housing stock, amounting to nearly 1,900 homes. McGuire said the rebuilding effort hasn’t kept pace with the need.
In exchange for the armory, the county agreed to transfer to the state the 18th Avenue property, which is strategically located near Clearlake’s largest shopping center, Adventist Clear Lake Hospital, the Woodland Community College Lake County Campus and the site where a new transit hub will be located. McGuire said they couldn’t ask for a more central build area.
The state has secured a developer, Chelsea Investment Corp., which is now in the design phase of the $35 million affordable housing project, McGuire said.
The project’s 82 units will have a mix of one- and three-bedroom units, and keep eight units reserved for people with developmental disabilities, he said.
“This is a huge win for the county of Lake,” and for affordable housing, McGuire said.
“Lake County, you have really turned the corner,” said Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, who McGuire said was a partner in the effort.
Aguiar-Curry said negotiations are always a challenge, and this time especially so due to the delays associated with the pandemic.
“I’m so excited. This is great news,” she said, explaining it’s a perfect example of a state and local partnership benefiting the region.
With this being the first land swap in California, “People are waiting to see how this goes,” she said, adding they want to tell Lake County’s story up and down the state.
McGuire credited Sheriff Brian Martin with making the initial proposal during the Mendocino Complex fire of 2018.
Martin said Wednesday that he’d had a vision that led to the project, and it was hard to believe it was coming to fruition. Bringing it to reality, he added, involved a tremendous amount of work by various government staff.
He said he brought the idea to McGuire and Aguiar-Curry after he heard the armory was shutting down.
The sheriff’s office headquarters at 1220 Martin St. in Lakeport is old and dated, Martin said. With the new location in the armory building, he will be able to have all of his divisions headquartered in the same campus, which will increase the agency’s ability to perform.
Martin said the footprint of the armory is several times larger than the current sheriff’s headquarters and will provide the sheriff’s office a home for decades to come.
There also will be room to grow as they seek to recruit more members, space to add training facilities for law enforcement, community outreach training and emergency response.
McGuire said the swap became official last week when the armory keys were delivered to Martin.
Martin told Lake County News that the keys were delivered last week to the jail administration and he received them on Tuesday.
One of many projects across the state
Jason Kenney, deputy director of real estate services for the Department of General Services, took part in the virtual event on Tuesday.
Kenney said the big thanks goes to Newsom, whose executive order made the project possible. That order, Kenney explained, tasked his department with finding the right properties for affordable housing projects.
Lake County’s project is one of 21 sites across California now in some state of development as a result of the executive order. Kenney estimated about a quarter to a third of those are in areas he would characterize as rural, noting they have been trying to prioritize a mix of areas.
Kenney said the state initially had considered the site for housing before rejecting it. Then the land swap proposal was brought to them. He said it was exactly the type of innovative partnership the executive order called for and a proof of concept.
“We’re thrilled to see this first land swap happen,” Kenney said.
The state is bringing in the developer, and a long-term lease will be developed for the property’s development and operation, Kenney said.
Chelsea Investment is working on the design, which is expected to be done at the end of the calendar year. Kenney said work will be taking place between the staff and city on the planning and permit review, and the developer is expected to hire a contractor by the end of the year.
He said groundbreaking is expected to occur in January 2023, with a 14-month construction duration and the housing project opening in the first quarter of 2024.
“It’s a really exciting development for us. It’s our first land swap deal,” Kenney said.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said it’s been a struggle to rebuild following Lake County’s wildland fires. One of the challenges has been the difficulty of attracting developers.
“Housing is a desperate issue we need to solve,” Sabatier said.
Sabatier said the city has a need, the county has a property, and the state has leverage and ability to bring developers.
Clearlake Mayor Dirk Slooten remembered the lunch during which local and state leaders first got together to discuss the idea. He said it seems like a long time ago, but noted that government does work, and the site in Clearlake is just right for the use.
City Manager Alan Flora said every level of state hierarchy has been supportive. He also noted Chelsea’s quality track record and the expectation for a great project.
Flora said Chelsea Investment is applying for Community Development Block Grant funding to support the project. A town hall is expected to take place in the summer to share more details with the community.
The state allocates affordable housing numbers to communities that they must fulfill by 2027. Clearlake must have 162 affordable units over the next five years, Flora said.
He said the new housing project by Chelsea Investment is the third planned to be built in the city, for a total of 264 units. Flora said he believes that makes Clearlake one of the few communities in California that are far exceeding the deadline the state established.
Lake County News asked officials if there are any other state-owned properties in Lake County that have promise for similar housing projects.
McGuire said they are working on other projects in rural counties on the North Coast, and that they’ve discussed with County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson the possibility of additional land in Lake County. He said the state stands ready to be able to advance funding if there are other projects that come forward.
He also noted that Hope Rising secured a housing grant last year. “The state is very motivated to move.”
Aguiar-Curry said they are looking up and down California for land that will work for housing projects.
“This is a big example of how we can all work together,” she said.
As for what’s next, Martin said with the land swap completed the county will begin the process of upgrading the armory facility to house the sheriff’s office.
“I don’t have an estimate for the time frame, but it’ll be several years,” he said.
He doesn’t yet have an estimate of cost, explaining that he has been saving rural sheriff’s funding for several years for this purpose.
“I’ve been talking with both Sen. McGuire and Congressman Thompson about funding opportunities for this project,” he said.
Martin noted it won’t be a cheap project, but he hopes that it will lead to the former armory being the home for the sheriff’s office for decades to come.
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