LAKE COUNTY — Lake Family Resource Center (LFRC) is making progress with plans for a domestic violence shelter. A $1-per-year lease has just been signed for LFRC to build a 25-bed shelter on a one-acre Kelseyville property owned by Sutter Lakeside Hospital (SLH).
In a show of support for the shelter Tuesday, the Lake County Board of Supervisors agreed to waive the county”s portion of any planning, building permit and development impact fees.
The first phase of shelter construction includes 10,000 square feet, but the C-2 zoning of the property would allow up to 16,000 square feet. LFRC plans to expand the shelter over the years, and SLH CEO Kelly Mather said she could envision the center eventually purchasing the land, once the 50-year lease is up.
When LFRC Executive Director Gloria Flaherty approached SLH four months ago to inquire about land, the hospital was glad to support shelter plans by signing a lease of the property, Mather said.
“We feel that it”s a very important service, we”re happy to help in any way we can,” Mather said.
SLH has owned the property for 10 years.
Flaherty said at the Tuesday board meeting the non-profit social services center is in the process of preparing a grant application to the Emergency Housing Assistance Program (EHAP) to fund building the shelter.
Two “Wine and Chocolate” events?one held last year and one last weekend will also fund the shelter. Last year”s event raised $17,000 and this year”s event brought in between $20,000 and $25,000, Flaherty said Friday. Ticket sales and donations are still being tallied.
As part of the EHAP application, the center needs to demonstrate public and private support for the shelter within the community.
Since EHAP dollars will fund specific construction only, the center anticipated using $100,000 the county set aside for the shelter last year to help build “sidewalks, driveways etc” Flaherty wrote in a Feb. 19 letter requesting a letter of support from the Board of Supervisors to be sent in the EHAP application.
“We are very happily using the $100,000 that the county has set aside a couple of years ago as evidence of that. We are also requesting the fee waivers. Our organization is all about building stronger families so we can have a safer and stronger community and I think this goes a long way to help us down that road,” Flaherty said.
The Board of Supervisors approved and signed a letter of support stating the fee waiver does not include state mandated, school impact, fire mitigation or water and sewer fees.
“Part of the grant application requirement is a commitment by the county to partner up to the extent that we can and this is one way to do that,” District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown said.
“We”ve set aside money but we can also agree to waive fees that could actually eat up a lot of the money we”ve set aside for them if they weren”t waived,” Brown, whose jurisdiction includes Kelseyville, said.
Flaherty said in addition to county support, several area businesses have committed to substantial discounts in building materials, concrete, asphalt, grading and underground work.
A domestic violence shelter would help LFRC address increasing incidences of domestic violence within the county.
Over the past few years there have been seven deaths in the county resulting from domestic violence. In the past year, the current small facility in Clearlake has provided 3,900 beds to an average of 10 women and children every night.
According to Flaherty, in the past six months, the average has increased to 12, up from 11 a year ago and 10 two years ago.
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