Supervisors approve Konocti purchase for $1.2 million
LAKE COUNTY ? The Lake County Board of Supervisors approved $1.2 million for the purchase of about 1,500 acres to be developed as park land atop Mount Konocti at a Tuesday meeting, a decision met with a standing ovation from an audience of approximately 50 people that included representatives from various environmental conservation groups and county residents.
A topic of the hour and a half discussion was whether the county can raise the rest of the money for the $2.6 million asking price ? without an additional parcel on Buckingham Peak that houses a money-generating telecommunications tower. The tower property, if available, would bring the purchase price to $3.8 million. The county has two years from December 2007 to purchase the property, or it will go on the open market, according to Clymire.
“I don”t want us to be categorized in the future, like a past board has been, that we messed up by not buying up water rights to the lake. It would be great if it was done with money outside the county to begin with. If we don”t pick up the communications site, we”re going to kick ourselves in the future,” supervisor Jeff Smith said.
The board unanimously agreed to pursue purchasing the additional site. Public services director Kim Clymire told the board that the site currently generates about $75,000 annually in lease agreements with telecommunications companies, and that the number may increase.
The land is being sold to satisfy the conditions of the Fowler Family Trust, which currently owns the land. Representing the trust, Lakeport attorney Peter Windrem told the board that the Fowlers gave the county the first right of refusal in order to preserve the land.
“Any real estate transaction has lots of details that need to be worked out, but the overall objective will be achieved, and I hope we can work them out over the course of the next week and beyond,” Windrem said.
Clymire told the board that he was hoping to open a purchase option agreement with the sellers and bring it back before the board in about two weeks.
Chief administrative officer Kelly Cox told the board that the land purchase would involve a $50,000 non-refundable down payment. He added that the owner of the telecommunications property on Buckingham Peak ? a limited liability company owned by the Fowlers ? might not be willing to sell.
“This is a $2.5 million purchase without the tower, and the $1.2 million on top is really pushing it. Maybe we could structure it in a way that we have a separate option or something that does not require us to carry through on the tower,” Cox said.
“We all feel like horses in the starting gate, waiting to start raising funds,” Windrem said. “The more people are sending in their nickels and dimes and their five or ten dollars ? it all helps strengthen the community. There”s no other project like this one.”
“For me ? one of biggest critics of government owning more land ? there”s no question about how I feel about this. The mountain is as much a part of Lake County as the lake is. The ironic thing is that you can”t see the lake from everywhere in the county, but you can see the mountain. Everyone, not just in Lake County, but from miles around, is going to come to see this, and the opportunities available ? there”s no end to it,” supervisor Rob Brown said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com
