LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday gave unanimous support to changing the intended location of a proposed equestrian park from Westside Community Park to another city-owned location.
The council was amenable to the request submitted by the Westside Community Park Committee to place the equestrian park – including an arena and other amenities – on a 10-acre portion of the City of Lakeport Municipal Sewer District property on Highway 175 because the original location at the park isn’t large enough.
The park committee, which is the entity that is developing the 55-acre park on behalf of the city, had first received the council’s support of the equestrian park concept in August 2014, as Lake County News has reported.
That original proposal was to place the equestrian facility on a 4.5-acre area in the southwest corner of the park’s “Phase III.”
In addition to a large arena and round pen, the plan has included horse camping sites, parking for horse trailers and rigs, an obstacle training course and a trailhead leading to a nearby Bureau of Land Management area.
However, Public Works Director Doug Grider told the council on Tuesday that during the course of the continuing work on the project – including a preliminary site review for the park’s Phase III area – and review by city staff, it became clear that the Westside Park site wasn’t large enough to accommodate the plans.
Some of the issues included ingress and egress to the site, especially when there are other events going on at the park, which hosts soccer, baseball and softball fields.
There also is the matter of installing the necessary road to that portion of the park, which Grider said isn’t really feasible.
He said city staff put their heads together and concluded that the CLMSD property offered everything that the Westside Park site didn’t – lots of room, easy ingress and egress including space for pull-throughs to accommodate horse trailers, easy access off of the highway and size for the large arena they want to build.
Grider said the proposed location change first went to the Lakeport Parks and Recreation Commission, which approved it unanimously, before it was brought to the council.
“It’s going to take a little bit of work to make this all happen,” said Grider.
At this point in time, that part of the CLMSD property is not annexed into the city limits, according to Grider.
Community Development Director Kevin Ingram explained that the city will need to go to the county to seek a general plan conformity report and meet California Environmental Quality Act requirements.
Grider said the city will ask for the county to waive any fees associated with the planning process, as it will be a regional equestrian park that everyone can use.
Councilman George Spurr asked how the facility’s development will be funded.
Grider said the Westside Community Park Committee, which proposes to also oversee the equestrian facility at the new location, will work with local equestrian groups to come up wit the funds. City staff will work with state and local agencies on the permitting requirements.
Carol Thorn, a member of several local equestrian groups including the Hooves and Wheels driving club, the Lake County Horse Council and Clear Lake Junior Horsemen, said they used to use the arena at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Lakeport, but now can hardly use it.
They have no place to go except Middletown when trying to find an arena. “Our kids have no place to go,” she said.
Park Committee Chair Dennis Rollins told the council that all of the horse people will tell them the CLMSD property is the better site, and that it would be better for everyone.
Michael Green, a city planning commissioner, also suggested that it would be an opportune time for the park committee to reboot the master plan process for the park considering the proposed changes.
“We bring a lot of money to the county and spend a lot of money in the county,” said Carol Biggs, founding president of the Lake County Horse Council.
She said she appreciated the support for a safe place for riding and driving horses, noting that it’s been her dream to have a community arena. “The fairgrounds just is not for us.”
Councilwoman Mireya Turner said horses are part of Lake County’s heritage, and she’s glad it’s a council priority to make sure local equestrians have a space of their own. Mayor Stacey Mattina agreed.
Turner moved to approve the request to relocate the park with staff-suggested conditions which included the requirement that the Westside Community Park Committee remain the responsible party for the facility; that the equestrian group and the committee provide all of the engineered plans for
the equestrian park; the equestrian group shall be responsible for all of the earthwork, erosion control and site improvements for the equestrian park; and the group shall continue to work with city staff through all phases of development to insure that it meets all of the current design and code requirements and to resolve any issues concerning the design or construction of the equestrian park.
The council voted 5-0 and received a round of enthusiastic applause from the project’s supporters in the audience.
“We need to invite them more often,” said Mattina.
Rollins turned to the group and told them to go raise money.
The Westside Community Park Committee also received the council’s support to allow for nonprofit vending and concessions at the ballfields in the park’s Phase II area.
The plan calls for building a concession stand, which can be used by nonprofit groups that have a facility use agreement with the park committee, Rollins said.
“It will be a great addition,” said Mattina.
In other council business, Grider presented the award for a $393,068 construction contract to Green Right O’Way Constructors Inc. for the Giselman Street Waterline Replacement Project, which the council approved.
The project, slated to take place this summer while nearby schools are on vacation, will replace approximately 1,356 feet of main 8 inch water line and provide new service lines to the
homes in the project limits.
Grider said it originally started out as a paving project, but he didn’t want to proceed on that until the old waterline under the street – which has been the source of ongoing issues and repairs – was replaced first. He said he had no intention of digging up brand new asphalt to deal with the old water line.
City Manager Margaret Silveira said the city’s budget constraints had led to them taking any money for road improvements temporarily off the table. However, with the passage in November of the new 1-percent Measure Z sales tax, those funds will be put back in the project budget.
Grider said the waterline will first be replaced, and then the 3- to 4-foot-wide trench where the new line is placed will be repatched. When they have the funding, the city will come back and do a new asphalt overlay of the entire project. No timeframe was given for that overlay work.
In other businesses, the council granted Napa Auto Parts owner Deanne Padel’s appeal of a March 15 Lakeport Planning Commission decision ordering that a cargo container be removed from the property at 1015 S. Main St.
The cargo container had been a permitted temporary structure for a 2004 remodel of the store before Padel purchased it. It was supposed to have been removed, a fact planning staff discovered while reviewing the property in connection with another project which Ingram said hadn’t initially followed the permitting process.
In January, Padel had submitted to the city a letter saying she did not plan to screen or remove the container as city planning officials had asked due to reasons including cost, which resulted in the matter going before the commission and the resulting order to have staff move forward on having the container removed.
Staff and several individuals speaking in support of Padel noted that the container isn’t conspicuous. Shortly before the meeting Padel also had offered to the city other suggestions to screen the container.
The council ultimately voted 5-0 to grant Padel’s appeal contingent upon the submission within 60 days of an application for an architectural and design review to legalize the container and the commission’s approval of that application.
Also on Tuesday, the council recognized staff’s work on the Downtown Improvement Project and presented a proclamation for Police Week. Police Chief Brad Rasmussen thanked the council and the community for its support, noting his agency has the kind of support that other agencies don’t.
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