City of Lakeport pursues grant opportunity for new lakeside park on Natural High property
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKEPORT, Calif. – New funding made available through a bond measure California voters approved last year is offering the city of Lakeport the opportunity to pursue a new park development along Clear Lake’s shoreline.
In June, California voters approved Proposition 68, the Parks and Water Bond Act of 2018.
The measure authorizes $4 billion in general obligation bonds meant for projects that extend from local and state parks to flood protection, water infrastructure, environmental protection and habitat restoration.
The state is now taking applications for grant funds, and the city of Lakeport is preparing to apply, according to city Community Development Director Kevin Ingram.
The funds can be used for a variety of aspects of park development, from acquisition to planning and design, Ingram said. The minimum award is $150,000.
“These kinds of funding opportunities don’t come along very often,” said Ingram.
Initially, the city looked at applying for funds to continue development of Westside Community Park, but instead decided to focus its efforts on the lakeside project, Ingram said.
The project the city plans to pursue is located at 810 N. Main St., the former location of Natural High School.
The property is owned by the Lakeport Unified School District.
Over the years it’s been the site for holiday events, including the Seaplane Splash-In and the Memorial Day craft faire. It’s a popular spot for city residents to walk and enjoy the lake, and the Clear Lake Scullers group has its boatyard located there.
As one of the last undeveloped lakeside properties, it’s been of special interest to community members.
During the past 20 years various plans have been floated for the property, including a proposal by the city to bundle the land with the city-owned Dutch Harbor parcel next door and bring in a developer to build a large hotel, a plan which didn’t get any traction after the district refused to sell it.
Ingram confirmed that the city and the district have been in recent negotiations about the property – it was a topic of several closed session discussions by the city council that yielded no reportable action – and that they are still working to reach a formal agreement for the land’s acquisition.
The city also has negotiated with the trustee of a separate property, a strip of land located between the Natural High land and the lake, but as of yet has not solidified a sale agreement regarding that property either, Ingram said.
District and city discuss property
Interim Lakeport Unified Superintendent Patrick Iaccino said he met with City Manager Margaret Silveira on March 5, with the Natural High property one of their topics of conversation.
At that point Silveira was preparing to leave the country on vacation, but Iaccino said they planned to meet after she returned and start a conversation on how to proceed on land negotiations.
Iaccino said that in the time he has been with the district – he was hired in the middle of January – negotiations for Natural High have been included on the closed session portion of each agenda. As of early last week, it hadn’t actually come up yet for discussion.
The property was again on the March 13 district board agenda; Lake County News was not able to confirm whether it was actually discussed in closed session at that meeting.
One key issue in the negotiations is the land’s value.
Ingram said he understood that the city performed an appraisal for the property that he believed included a range as the property has both an open space and resort residential zoning.
“I have not been party to the closed session items so I can’t speak to what the appraised values and given that it still remains a closed session item I can’t request the appraisal documents either,” said Ingram, responding to the questions while Silveira was away.
Asked about the issue of a land appraisal as part of property negotiations, Iaccino did not have the exact land value amount, but said it came out at more than $700,000, according to information he received from Silveira. He said he understood a second appraisal by the city may also have been done, but he didn’t have information on an amount.
About a month ago, Silveira had suggested that the district might want to have its own appraisal completed on the property, Iaccino said.
Iaccino said he’s going to talk to the district board of trustees about having such an appraisal done.
Community meetings begin March 18
Ingram said part of the grant application requirement is for the city to hold a series of community meetings to aid in designing the proposed park facility.
Ingram said Public Health Advocates Inc., a Davis-based nonprofit that helped write the bond funding language, approached the city to help it with pursuing the grant.
As a result, he said the organization will be writing the grant and facilitating the public meetings for the city.
So far, the city has scheduled three of the meetings, all of them at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.: Monday, March 18, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, April 18; and Monday, May 13.
Topics of the meetings will include discussions of design, budgeting and the review of community input, he said.
Those who can’t attend the meetings are invited to share their opinions about the features they want to see at the new lakefront community open space area by completing a quick online survey.
Find the survey, in both English and Spanish, here.
In 2017 the city held a series of community meetings on the lakeside promenade plan, taking extensive community input, as Lake County News has reported.
Those meetings contributed to the creation of a lakefront revitalization plan endorsed by the Lakeport Planning Commission and ultimately approved by the Lakeport City Council in September 2017.
Out of those meetings, Ingram said a lakeside promenade came out as the No. 1 community goal.
Ingram said the upcoming meetings may seem reminiscent of those meetings two years ago, but they’re necessary to fulfill the grant requirements. They’ll also be integral to shaping the city’s grant proposal and determining how much funding it will ultimately seek, as he said they currently haven’t settled on a dollar amount.
He said it’s expected that the city will get some credit in the application process for previously having done that planning work.
Community members with questions are invited to contact the Lakeport Community Development Department at 707-263-5615, Extension 204, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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.