LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Planning Commission on Wednesday honored a retiring member, approved an amended environmental document for the Downtown Improvement Project and got an update on projects handled by the city's planning department.
Shortly after accepting the meeting's agenda and consent agenda, the commission stopped to thank retiring Commissioner Ross Kauper for his efforts for the last 13 years.
Kauper announced late in 2015 his intention to leave the commission, which he joined in October 2002.
The city has been recruiting for his successor since then. A new commissioner is expected to be approved at an upcoming Lakeport City Council meeting. Applications are still being accepted.
“It's kind of bittersweet and sad,” said Community Development Director Kevin Ingram, who lauded Kauper for his attention to detail, timeliness and work ethic, and presented him with a plaque to mark his service.
Vice Chair Harold Taylor said it had been a pleasure to serve with Kauper, and that he would be missed.
Kauper, in turn, said it has been a pleasure working with commission and staff, and expressed his belief that the city was in good hands with Ingram, who took the Community Development director job at the end of 2014.
“Do I have to leave now?” Kauper joked. Ingram said no, that he was staying through the meeting.
His other colleagues on the commission – Suzanne Russell, Tom Gayner and Ken Wicks Jr. – also thanked him for his work and insights into planning issues.
“I plan to stay involved,” Kauper said.
Mayor Marc Spillman made an appearance to thank Kauper, who he had worked with while he was a planning commissioner for six years, finding him “genuinely vigilant.”
Spillman added, “You're professional and you're informed,” and carried out work with heart and courage. He then went up to the dais to shake Kauper's hand.
Kauper did stay for the remainder of the meeting, the main item for which being approving an updated mitigated negative declaration for the second phase of the Downtown Improvement Project.
The project, expected to be constructed from March 29 through Aug. 15 at a cost of $2.2 million, will stretch along N. Main Street from First to Fourth streets. Work will include repaving the street, widening sidewalks, updating sewer and water infrastructure, planting new street trees and installing improved Americans with Disabilities Act access.
In order to expedite the project and minimize the impact on downtown businesses, the city is proposing to have construction take place from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Ingram said that in order to pursue the nighttime construction, it was necessary to amend the project's initial study – which first went to the commission in 2006 – to reflect the additional impacts from noise and lighting.
Associate Planner Dan Chance said the project originally was much larger. The first phase was completed several years ago. “This is the final part of it.”
Two of the main issues requiring an updated review are lighting and noise, as well as a new law requiring that a tribal monitor be on site during significant grading, he said.
He said the Lakeport General Plan allows certain noise levels from 7 to 10 p.m., with noise levels required to be reduced after that point.
The downtown area's two-story structures are expected to significantly reduce the sound from moving farther away. “We're not saying it's going to be completely quiet,” Chance said, but the noise will be under the allowable decibels threshold.
Staff did sound testing, and reported that the louder construction activity will take place earlier in the evening. There also will be a contact person for the contractor on site at all times, with businesses and area residents to have that person's phone number. Construction lighting will be required to be downlit.
Regarding the new law requiring tribal monitoring, Chance said the city has requested a proposed agreement from the local Pomo. “At this time we haven't heard from them.”
Ingram said the document's official review period began this week, and that the city expects to receive comments from local agencies.
Taylor anticipated people questioning if there would be additional phases and further improvement efforts in downtown.
Ingram said the project fell to the ax when the state ended redevelopment. “We're pretty lucky to have anything here,” he said, noting the city has to fight with the successor agency to get the bond monies back. “At this time there is not a plan for those future blocks.”
During the discussion, Ingram noted that the noisiest time for the project will be demolition. He said business owners have agreed to close earlier at night so the crews can get to work on the demolition work between 6 and 7 p.m.
Chance estimated that the sound from construction will be similar to a Harley Davidson motorcycle going down the highway.
No parking spaces are anticipated to be lost, and Ingram said traffic will be detoured along Forbes and Park streets.
Spillman, addressing Taylor's questions about future phases, said the first steps would be to get plans done, then the city could look at potential funding avenues.
Ingram said that the city's engineer estimated that it would cost between $200,000 and $300,000 to repave just one block in the downtown area. That cost would include no other improvements besides the pavement overlay.
“It's still within the bounds of the old project so it's still a possibility but I wouldn't hold your breath,” he said, explaining that he had taking part in a meeting with the regional transportation body earlier in the day and the outlook is bleak for roadway improvement funding.
Russell asked if the city could do a bond to finance it. “I think it would be pretty difficult,” Ingram replied.
Russell moved to forward the amended mitigated negative declaration to the city council for review and adoption, as well as some minor mostly technical and grammatical changes proposed by the commission. Gayner seconded and the commission approved the motion 5-0.
Also on Wednesday, Ingram presented a summary of land use applications, code enforcement and nuisance abatement activities for 2015.
“It's not particularly pretty,” said Ingram, pointing to an almost 60-percent decrease in the total number of planning-related applications in 2015 when compared to 2014, which he said also wasn't a great year.
Overall, there were 71 land use applications in 2014, and 41 in 2015, according to Ingram's report.
“It is definitely an outcome of the recession that we're coming out of,” with Lake County usually having a longer lag time in recovery, Ingram said.
Ingram also told the commission that only one new single family residence was completed in Lakeport in 2015, down from two in 2014.
He said staff is using this time to catch up on long-term planning items in order to be prepared when projects come in.
The commission unanimously approved forwarding Ingram's report to the council, and also heard a brief update on pending projects, including the AutoZone store proposed to be built on Industrial Avenue.
The commission is next scheduled to meet on Wednesday, March 9.
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.
Lakeport Planning Commission approves amended Downtown Improvement Project environmental document
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On