LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday heard from neighbors of Lake County Vector Control District about the district's proposal for a zoning change and general plan amendment on four lakeside parcels where it wants to build new and improved facilities.
The district's parcels, located on Esplanade and C streets, would be changed from residential and resort residential zoning to public civic use if approved by the council, in preparation for the district's plans to remove an existing laboratory building in order to replace it with a new one.
At the start of the meeting it was noted that there was some confusion as to the agenda wording, with Mayor Martin Scheel explaining they wouldn't actually be taking action that night on the matter, but would take public comment in preparation for an April 7 second reading and public hearing.
Vector Control has been operating in its current location for 60 years, said Community Development Director Kevin Ingram. He explained that the motivating factor for Vector Control's requests for the zoning change and general plan amendment is that it is looking at a future expansion project. However, the current zoning is in conflict with state planning law.
Referencing the Lakeport Planning Commission's Jan. 14 meeting, Ingram said the commission recommended that the council approve the zoning change and general plan amendment, but that the commissioners had their own concerns and noted that their recommendation didn't constitute an automatic approval of any future projects. He said the council must take formal action due to the planning commission's recommendation.
Councilman Kenny Parlet asked about the process that needed to be followed, and Ingram replied replied that there were a few different options in the way it could be done.
For one, a general plan amendment and zoning change can go along with a proposed project, but Ingram said Vector Control first wants to make sure that what it's proposing to do is possible, thus it's asking for the changes now, rather than later.
He said the combined zoning change and general plan amendment request resulted in the requirement for two council hearings.
Parlet said he believed some people were worried that if the council took action that something “catastrophic” would happen.
Councilwoman Stacey Mattina replied that the proposed zoning change was an important matter. “It's not a little thing. It's a big thing, you're deciding how a property is best to be used.”
She pointed out that Vector Control's facilities on Esplanade don't fit the city's current zoning, so it's been determined to be legal nonconforming. However, changing the zoning may mean that those facilities don't fit there anymore.
Councilman Marc Spillman, noting that Vector Control is proposing to have a total of 10,000 square feet of building space on the parcels, questioned if that was too much, a point Ingram said was raised by the planning commission.
Quoting zoning rules, Ingram said the building limit is 60 percent of a parcel for one-story structures, 50-percent for two.
Neighbors explain concerns
As was the case at the commission's hearings in January and last fall on the Vector Control plans, public comment during the council's discussion of the matter was taken up mostly by neighbors.
Among them were Ron and Barbara Bertsch, who questioned setbacks – including the Vector Control administration building being built within a foot and a half of their property – zoning, notices to neighbors, conflicts with the general plan and the size of the proposed facilities.
They also raised issues with Vector Control failing to follow past project requirements, specifically, failing to tear down an old laboratory building, which it was supposed to have done after constructing its new administration building more than a decade ago.
“The neighbors are concerned about Vector Control's promises in the past,” Ron Bertsch said. “Nobody was happy about what happened.”
He also said Vector Control did not have a permit for its 6-foot cyclone fence and that the agency intends to continue using a temporary gravel parking lot until 2017. In addition, the agency is supposed to have 16 off-street parking spots, but currently only have room for four vehicles, he said.
The Bertschs insisted that Vector Control should not be allowed to expand in a residential, downtown area.
Another neighbor, Verna Schaffer, also asked the council to deny Vector Control's proposed zoning change, adding that zoning laws are meant to protect residents.
Schaffer said the agency has a Todd Road property, and its proposed project is more suitable to that location.
She faulted Vector Control for overlooking the rules, also raising issue with parking and Vector Control's failure to take down its lab, claiming it ran out of money.
Schaffer, who did renovations at her home, said she was short on money, too, after that project, but was still required by the city to build a sidewalk in front of her home. “Why did I have to comply and they don't have to comply?
If the requested zoning changes are approved, Schaffer was concerned that Vector Control would ignore the rules once again. “And we're afraid that the city will continue to allow this,” she said, adding that the change would devalue neighbors' homes.
Schaffer had no objection to the property's current use, noting that Vector Control does good work, but asked the council to deny the “grossly inappropriate” zoning.
Val McMurdie, also a Vector Control neighbor, had procedural issues, noting that the city doesn't allow a private property owner to come in and ask for a zoning change without first seeing all the plans.
He said the agency could build less expensively at Todd Road, and if they're going to proceed at the lakeside location, he said the city should require Vector Control to submit a full set of plans.
Finley resident Phil Murphy, a former Vector Control Board member, maintained that Vector Control's claims about not building at Todd Road due to a cost-prohibitive hookup to a sewer line were not true.
He challenged the council to find another example of a situation where the public came out in force and was unanimously opposed to a project, only to be ignored by the planning commission.
Murphy also claimed that city staff had suggested that Vector Control could use an adjoining commercial property for overflow parking. “That is a unique solution, to put it mildly.”
Vector Control District Manager Dr. Jamie Scott spoke briefly to the council, explaining that three of the four parcels had been owned and used by the district for 60 years. The fourth parcel – on C Street – had been purchased at auction in 2011. She said the goal was to make the zoning consistent on the parcels.
She acknowledged that the property on Esplanade could look better, and said the district had lost some funds due to redevelopment and is now trying to move forward.
If the changes are adopted, she said the district will have the chance to begin the planning process, adding that the plans they had included with their application were preliminary and meant to show the city where they were going.
Both Scheel and Councilwoman Mireya Turner reported having visited the Vector Control site. Scheel said he also met with the Bertschs and Schaffer about their concerns.
Parlet moved to introduce the ordinance and schedule a second reading and public hearing on April 7, which the council approved 5-0.
Also on Tuesday, the council heard a presentation from Mark Ferguson, chief executive officer of the Redwood Empire Municipal Insurance Fund, or REMIF, which is a self-insured pool of about a dozen local governments around the North Coast, including Lakeport.
Scheel also presented to Public Works staff a certificate of achievement from the California Highway Patrol recognizing the city achieving two consecutive “satisfactory” ratings in the Biennial Inspection of Terminals program since Oct. 3, 2013.
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Lakeport City Council takes input on Vector Control rezone, general plan amendment request; public hearing set
- Elizabeth Larson
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