Tiffany Revelle
Record-Bee staff
LAKE COUNTY ? A Lake County Board of Supervisors agenda item concerning negotiations with developer Dominic Affinito drew a crowd of about 20 to the Lakeport courthouse Tuesday afternoon, most of them from Lucerne. It was an unusual number since mundane and not-so-mundane items usually draw between five and 10 spectators on any given Tuesday.
On the Board of Supervisors” agenda was a request for “approval in concept” of the the county”s and redevelopment agency”s aid in Affinito”s intention to develop a hotel in place of the existing and blighted Lucerne Motel and Lake Sands Resort along Highway 20, part of the county”s redevelopment plan for the Northshore.
In response to a letter from Choice Hotels International asking for “an outline of the county”s commitments to the proposed redevelopment project, complete with a reasonable timeline to start construction of the hotel” within 15 days, the county decided to move forward with negotiations after much input and discussion over the Affinito, who was named as the applicant in the letter.
But that wasn”t what most who showed up wanted to talk about.
Two women got up to speak who identified themselves as residents of one of Affinito”s dilapidated motels, which were the subject of a nuisance abatement hearing before the BOS two months ago. At its June 19 meeting, the board gave Affinito 30 days to evict long-staying residents, which according to the property”s current zoning were staying there illegally.
Carol King said she”d been evicted and had nowhere else to go. She said she hadn”t gotten her deposit back, either.
At that point, Chairman Jeff Smith interrupted King and reminded her that any comments needed to stay within the parameters of what was on the agenda.
“To the extent that it applies to the nature of who we”re doing business with, its relevant,” said Dist. 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing, whose district includes Lucerne.
Speaking of Affinito”s plans to develop a MainStay Suites hotel on the two parcels that are now home to the two motels, King continued, “If he can”t maintain his residences now, how”s he going to maintain that? Hello? I”m a resident there, I should know.”
Smith gave another reminder to stay on track with what was publicized in the agenda, and Rushing said she would take the matter up with King and the woman with her later.
A litany of complaints about Affinito from various residents followed, as well as rebuttals from property manager Dennis Cox, along with Robert and Christina Affinito, Dominic”s son and daughter.
Lucerne resident Lenny Matthews implored the supervisors to look at the whole picture, and to consider the testimony from the two women.
“We don”t build a hotel and hope people will come, we build a hotel and give them a reason to come,” said Robert Affinito, who said he is working with his father on the project.
Lucerne resident Donna Christopher commented that the senior Affinito could have cleaned up the code enforcement problem any time. “It”s just something yo do if you”re concerned about the community,” she said. “You”re in the driver”s seat, not the fleabag motel owner.”
To that Christopher added her concern that the previously proposed 70 room hotel would not fit on that property.
Christopher also said she thought she had heard the idea discussed that Affinito would make accomodations for the people living there.
Christina Affinito spoke to the board of her father”s intentions, saying, “This property was always intended to be a hotel; it was never meant to be permanent housing for anyone. Our idea was to purchase the property and build a hotel, a nice one.”
Lucerne resident Craig Bach added his voice to the fray, noting Affinito”s perportedly checkered past in Mendocino county. “Maybe you can”t judge someone by their past perfomance,” said Bach, adding that he had followed the goings-on around Affinito”s properties in the city of Fort Bragg, and it amounted to “a lot of broken promises. We need to make sure what we see is what we get,” said Bach.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com. To comment on this story or any others, look at the end of this story for “Comments,” fill in the web form, and the click “Publish”
