To move, or not to move? That was the question addressed Thursday, Sept. 21, by a group of county officials who visited Clearlake”s Outrageous Waters, closed down last summer after the park”s joint owners went their separate ways.
“We wanted to give kids a place to hang out,” said former owner Mike Walker at the beginning of the tour.
Walker explained to all present how he and wife, Dorrie, fought hard to raise the money to initiate the project nine years ago, spending $2.2 million on the park”s construction.
Mike and Dorrie Walkers” former partner, Livermore resident Greg Hawley, decided to free up the collateral he had invested in it, and the Walkers were not able to raise enough money to buy him out.
Taking part in the tour were Supervisors Anthony Farrington and Ed Robey, county Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox, county Parks Superintendent Dana Smalley and Lakeport resident and business owner Robert Fairweather.
Farrington took on the project recently in the hopes of making the equipment available to Lake County”s youth.
Developer Barry Johnson bought the property in June with the intention of combining the 10-acre parcel with another city-owned parcel to create a 35-acre “regional power center” for the City of Clearlake.
Johnson has submitted an application to the City of Clearlake in order to push the project through, but stated Sept. 21 that Clearlake is “dragging
its feet.”
Clearlake City Administrator Kathy Kivley said on Tuesday, Sept. 26, that the city is reviewing the results of an request for proposals sent out to 40 companies nationwide, a part of the city”s redevelopment process. “We sent out the RFQ, we”re in the process of reviewing the responses, and once they”re reviewed and a preliminary decision is made, then it will be presented to the City Council and it will be a City Counci decision.”
This coincides with the county”s apparent need for time and discussion regarding Farrington”s plans to relocate the park”s water slides and Grand Prix race track to an as-yet undetermined parcel of land.
“Hopefully within the next month, we”ll have locked in on a location,” said Farrington. He was due to meet with Cox again to discuss the possibility of relocating the equipment.
Johnson said Sept. 21, “I am willing to donate the equipment as long as it actually gets relocated and is operational.” He said if that does not pan out, he may reopen the park in Clearlake, as the city has contacted him about keeping the water park in the city.
Farrington said he is “very positive and even more optimistic” about the project”s feasibility after Thursday”s site visit. “It sounds like everything is feasible in terms of the warranty and relocating the equipment.”
Walker stated that the water slides had lived out nine years of their 25-year life expectancy, and estimated that it would cost $100,000 to move the equipment.
That amount is exactly what the county earmarked in August at its annual budget hearings, at Farrington”s recommendation.
When asked if he thought the project would be feasible, Cox said, “I don”t know. That”s what we”re going to try and figure out. It seems like it”s not going to be an easy thing to do, and it”s going to be costly. There are so many unknown factors right now.”
Cox said some of his initial concerns were allayed by the site visit, but that it had raised others, such as the cost of reassembly, insurance and where to put the equipment.
Farrington said he was thinking of a county-owned park in Upper Lake as a possible destination for the water slides. Once a property is secured, said Farrington, the next step is to send the project out to bid for the slides” relocation.
Farrington said Monday, Sept. 25, that although he couldn”t promise anything, “I”m going to do my darndest” to have the park up and running by next summer.
“The best thing that could happen is if somebody from the private sector would come in and put it on privately owned land and operate it as a private enterprise,” said Cox.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
