KELSEYVILLE — With high-powered developer and lobbyist Darius Anderson on track to buy Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa, District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown started a petition Wednesday to “adamantly oppose any consideration of a casino development on the property.”
Brown said he is ratcheting up his opposition to the idea of a casino because of a conversation he recently had with Anderson”s partner, Jay Wallace, in which Wallace reportedly said the idea of a casino on Konocti”s property was “not off the table.”
Anderson and Wallace are partners in the San Francisco-based real estate company Kenwood Investments, which made known its intention to purchase the resort in numerous recent communications with county officials.
In a letter dated Oct. 26 to county Community Development Director Rick Coel from Kenwood Investments, a footnote states, Wallace wrote that Kenwood was “scheduled to close escrow on or about Feb. 15.”
Anderson said in a Friday afternoon phone conference with Wallace and the Record-Bee that that date has changed. He said there are a number of documents he needs to collect from Konocti that have not been generated yet. Kenwood is doing due diligence until the end of April, he said, and will close escrow 30 days after that, putting the closing date around the end of May.
Wallace said part of the due diligence Kenwood is doing includes an application for an easement, environmental reports and the review of a final report.
When asked if a casino development was still pending, Wallace said, “We are reviewing the options for the spa, under our contract with the union.”
Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa is currently owned by the UA Local 38 Convalescent Trust Fund, a plumber”s union that has owned and operated the resort since 1959.
Anderson said he had been in discussions and negotiations over the purchase details since January of 2006.
Most recently, representatives from Kenwood Investments have appeared at several meetings of the Lake County planning commission regarding the zoning of a 20-acre parcel across Soda Bay Road from the resort as the Rivieras Area Plan was being hammered out.
But that isn”t what has sparked Brown”s recent concern. “Information is rolling in to us that these investors from Kenwood Investments are very serious about the possibility of a casino. It”s reported to us that five local tribes have been considered as partners with them on this,” said Brown. He added that he still needed confirmation of that list from a contact in Sacramento.
Citing a three- to seven-year land trust process they would have to go through in order to put in a casino on the resort property, Anderson said in September, “As investors, we”re not going to want to wait three years. It makes it much more difficult to do a project like this.”
Brown expressed concern about Anderson”s and Wallace”s government contacts with regard to that process.
Kenwood Investments isn”t the only enterprise in which Anderson and Wallace are partners. Anderson also heads up Platinum Advisors, a California lobbying firm with offices in San Francisco, Sacramento and Washington D.C.
“I”m concerned to the extent that it would be easier for them (to get land into trust) than it would be for anybody else, including maybe a tribe,” said Brown. “I want to make sure that whatever happens for Konocti is what”s best for Konocti and for the county,” he added.
Anderson”s profile on Platinum Advisors” Web site as the firm”s president and founder highlights his experience as a financial advisor to Phil Angelides during his tenure as State Treasurer and Senator Dianne Feinstein, among others. Anderson was chief fund-raiser for Gray Davis in his 1998 gubernatorial campaign and in his re-election in 2002.
Wallace managed US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi”s first congressional campaign in 1987, has experience as an international union representative for the service Employees International Union and has handled a wide variety of political and government issues, procurements, land use and real estate transactions, CEQA and other regulatory approvals, according to his Platinum Advisors bio.
Brown said he also received a call from Anderson and Wallace on Friday in which they told him they wanted to meet with him, county Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox, County Council Anita Grant and Chairman Jeff Smith to outline more specifics of their plans, as well as do a presentation for members of the community who are concerned.
“I am glad that they are making an attempt to keep the county in the loop as to what their plans are,” said Brown.
As of Friday afternoon, Brown said he had e-mailed around 40 copies of the petition to residents of the area around the resort who wanted to help in the effort. He also had hand-delivered some to Buckingham residents and given a few to constituents who had come to the courthouse in downtown Lakeport to pick up copies of the petition to help gather signatures.
Brown said he plans to take the petition to the county Board of Supervisors, Congressman Mike Thompson, US Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, Assemblymember Patty Berg, along with anyone else who will listen.
“I want a commitment from anybody that owns Konocti that no, we will not pursue a casino project there. That”s what I would like to see; I would be satisfied with that, and nothing short of that,” said Brown. He expects signatures to start coming in by the beginning of next week and to have several thousand within a month.
Anyone wishing to get a copy of the petition may contact Brown at the courthouse”s main number at 263-2368, or at his home phone number at 279-2063. Brown”s e-mail address is rbrown@co.lake.ca.us.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
