How to resolve AdBlock issue?
CLEARLAKE – A proposed plan to begin work on the next phase of the Lake Glenn Subdivision has residents and neighbors concerned about city planning processes, home values and comparable development, which the developer said he's willing to address.
The topic has drawn an outpouring of concern from subdivision residents, many of whom attended April 12's Clearlake City Council meeting and convinced the council to postpone a decision until they've had further time to consider.
At issue is a proposal from developer Robert Adelman of Santa Cruz, who is asking the city to approve the subdivision's final map. That will allow him to move forward with building 32 new homes in the subdivision, which he said he purchased from Argonaut Construction in the fall of 2005.
The subdivision was first approved in 1991, with the first phase of construction beginning the following year, said City Administrator Dale Neiman.
In all of that time, however, a final subdivision map was never approved, and the tentative map should have expired in 1993, Neiman said.
It may have ended there. However, in March 2006, Angela Basch – then a senior planner for Clearlake who later served for a short time as its community development director – sent Adelman a letter that appeared to give him the go-ahead on the project, despite the fact that the map technically should have expired.
Neiman called the situation “a mess” and said he's never encountered anything quite like it before.
Considered one of the best residential areas of the city, the subdivision runs along Rumsey Road.
Much of the subdivision area is comprised of homes in a rural setting amidst older walnut orchards.
Janice Cooper, who along with husband Mark has lived in the area for more than 30 years, said most of the property in the area is zoned for an acre and a quarter, like her own parcel.
Adelman's second phase includes 32 homes on lots ranging in size from 6,500 to 10,000 square feet, said Neiman. Adelman had received approval from Basch to reduce the minimum house size to 1000 square feet, less than the area's 1400 square-foot minimum. A third phase, said Adelman, will add another 27 homes to the area.
Cooper's daughter, Jacqueline Snyder, lives next door to her parents with her husband, Martin. Both she and her mother say they realize development is coming to the area. However, they say it's been a constant battle to protect the area against what they called “spot zoning” and projects which the said would raise density levels in an unacceptable manner.
They also say the city hasn't sent notices to the neighbors about issues like this one; they only found out about the subdivision discussion a few days before the April 12 council meeting.
Mayor Judy Thein also lives in the subdivision, and to avoid a conflict of interest recused herself from the discussion April 12.
Subdivision residents at the council meeting voiced near unanimous concern that Adelman's plans for homes with a minimum size of 1,000 square feet would lower property values and detract from the neighborhood's overall appearance.
"What this basically involves with the neighbors is they would like to see comparable houses to what's out there," said Neiman at the meeting.
Tom Vallot, who has lived in the subdivision for 15 years, said he's concerned about the homes being comparable. “We don't want low-income housing. We've got enough of it. Look at Olympic. Look at Dam Road ... there's low-income housing coming out of our ears."
Vallot also broached the issue of the roads around the subdivision. The residents paid thousands of dollars to keep the streets in good condition, he said, but now they're falling apart. He also asked the city about who is responsible for the streets – the city or the subdivision residents?
Neiman, in a telephone interview this week, said he researched the situation and found out that in 1992 the council had said it wasn't accepting responsibility for the subdivision streets. However, although he's not sure when it happened, the city began repairing the streets since that time.
“It's pretty clear to me that the city's accepted responsibility (for the streets),” Neiman said.
Speaking on Adelman's behalf at the meeting, architect Wally Geer of Ventura-based Greymar Associates said his firm does a lot of "green" building. Geer, who also is representing Adelman on a project in Burns Valley, said Adelman originally could have put in 84 homes on 5,000 square foot lots.
Geer claimed the project would "kick start" higher home values in the area, and would be of even higher quality than the homes already there. He added that Adelman has spent a lot of time and money to get the project to this point, and has been willing to meet city staff demands.
Adelman was willing to raise the minimum home size and will repair any road issues that result from construction, said Geer.
Because Basch gave wrong advice, which led to Adelman spending considerable time and money on the project, Neiman said at the meeting that he believed the city needs to "live with" the decision, and approve the project.
The problem with that, Jacqueline Snyder told the council, is that they don't have to live with it; rather, she and other subdivision residents do. She urged the council to go out and look at the area before making a decision.
Snyder also suggested that Adelman might wait until the real estate market improves before proceeding with the project.
City Planning Commissioner Albert Bernal, who lives close to the subdivision, said he sees serious ramifications for the city if it approves what is essentially an expired map, despite the issue with Basch's approval.
"This is a precedent-setting action," Bernal said.
From now on, anyone buying projects with outdated maps could appeal to this project in trying to get approval for development, he said. "That's a big risk, and it could put the city in a bind."
Voting no on the map isn't denying the project, Bernal added; it's merely requiring Adelman to go through the approval process in the correct fashion.
Janice Cooper told the council, "The recurring theme you're hearing tonight is we would like 'like' housing out there."
The long-time subdivision resident noted the area has suffered from development thanks to large trucks tearing up the roads.
Cooper also encouraged the council not to set precedent. "Let's at least delay and meet with people and go out and look at the property."
Real estate broker Dave Hughes suggested that the council raise the minimum square footage to 1,400 square feet. He said the last home in the area to sell was in December. That 1,450 square foot home sold for $310,000, Hughes said.
He added that while the council may be concerned about action Adelman might take if the project isn't approved, they also need to ensure that the neighbors don't sue because of the process.
While Hughes said he thinks the project should move forward, he also sent a message from his wife, Georgia, who doesn't want to see the area developed at all.
"Just because someone wants to subdivide something doesn't mean we have to allow it," he quoted his wife as saying.
Geer told the council that Adelman was willing to raise the minimum home size to 1,400 square feet. In addition, he said they would work with city planning staff and go before the Planning Commission to discuss the homes' aesthetics.
Responding to Geer's proposals, Vallot said, “I'd love to see this property developed, I just don't want to see my home value go down.”
Geer and Adelman said this week that they spoke to about a dozen neighbors immediately after the meeting.
At the council meeting Geer had invited neighbors to meet with them, but he said the neighbors decided not to meet with them. “No one wanted to meet with me, but for what sounded like very positive reasons,” said Geer.
Cooper confirmed that neighbors don't plan on meeting with Geer.
“We've addressed all the staff issues and all the neighbor issues,” Adelman said.
Adelman said he's been in developing for five years, and has previously worked as a volunteer with the Sierra Club to fight unreasonable development.
He said although there's no “legal basis” for the neighbors' requests, he's still willing to work with them.
“All of us were a little bit blindsided by some of the errors the previous staff had made,” he said.
Adelman said both he and Geer are involved with “green” development, and plan for the Lake Glenn Subdivision to have green elements to them, including solar. Adelman said they're willing to spend an extra 10 to 20 percent upfront to make the homes more sustainable.
“We actually concerned about the long-term ecological impact,” he said. “Our concerns are not just the bottom line.”
However, both of them said it's too early to be specific on just what the green features will be.
Vallot said this week that he'd like to see a traffic study done on the area before the project moves forward.
“To say that I'm against the project – absolutely not. But let's do it correctly,” he said.
The Lake Glenn Subdivision will be back before the council on April 26. Neiman said he expects to update his report and recommendations to the council for that meeting.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
