This year marks the third summer that water slides sitting on Clearlake”s former Outrageous Waters water park land have sat in the sun, unused, waiting for a home.
County Supervisor Anthony Farrington undertook the task of finding a new home for the water slides in the summer of 2006, the first summer season the park was closed after its joint owners went their separate ways.
“Pardon the pun, but I think it”s dead in the water. But it”s not for a lack of trying,” Farrington said Wednesday of the effort.
Farrington said he approached Robinson Rancheria and Big Valley Rancheria about taking on the slides, spoke with numerous individuals and even posed the idea to Page Mill Properties of Palo Alto when the company was proposing to buy Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa in 2007.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 in October 2006 to support Farrington”s effort, and did not support the proposition of moving the water slides to a county park in Upper Lake. County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said at the time that the best thing that could happen would be for a private individual to put the equipment on privately-owned land and operate it as a private enterprise.
“That would be a last resort. It doesn”t look like either of the cities or the county wants to do anything with it,” Farrington said.
No one in the private sector has expressed interest, either, he said.
Former owner Mike Walker told a group of county officials who toured the facility in October 2006 that the water slides had lived out nine years of their 25-year life expectancy.
“I don”t even know now at this stage if it”s salvageable. There has been no maintenance and the sun is cooking the fiberglass. The handwriting appears to be on the wall,” Farrington said.
He added that if an opportunity to move the equipment does present itself, a Canada water slide manufacturing company that inspected the slides a year ago and gave them the thumbs-up will have to come and take another look.
Developer Barry Johnson bought the 10-acre property in 2006, intending to combine the land with two surrounding parcels to create a “regional power center” for Clearlake.
“The project is not anticipated to be in construction till mid-2009. We may be moving dirt on or about April or May of 2009,” Johnson said.
Farrington said if he can”t find a new location for the equipment by then, the slides will have to be dismantled and thrown away.
Former owner Mike Walker told a group of county officials who toured the facility in October 2006 that his former partner, Livermore resident Greg Hawley, decided to free up the collateral he had invested in it before he and his wife could raise enough money to buy Hawley out.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
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