LAKE COUNTY — The first public input hearing concerning the environmental impact report (EIR) for the Cristallago housing and resort development proposal will be held Thursday before the Lake County Planning Commission.
Cristallago is planned for just less than 800 acres west of Highway 29 in the unincorporated area north of the Lakeport city border. The project proposes 650 homes and 325 resort units around an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus signature golf course.
“I”m surprised that no one has shot me an e-mail yet or anything,” District 4 Planning Commissioner Cliff Swetnam said.
The Cristallago subdivision is proposed in District 4. Since the project made its public debut before the commission in January 2006, it has drawn controversy from the Lake County Sierra Club and from surrounding neighbors, and scrutiny from the Lake County Board of Supervisors.
“I have heard from a few neighbors who live in close proximity to the project. I”m assuming that once we begin the EIR process more people will become engaged,” District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington said.
The planning commission will hear public input on the EIR at 11 a.m. in the Lake County Board of Supervisors chambers in the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport. Developers Jim Burns, Mark Mitchell and Matt Boeger are expected to make a presentation. The planning commission will not take formal action on Thursday.
Swetnam said it was hard to predict whether the project will draw more opposition.
“When it was proposed a year and a half ago when the market was still booming, there was quite a bit of opposition. Now maybe there may be even more based on what”s going on with the economy,” Swetnam said.
Continued Swetnam, “This is the largest project we have taken on in Lake County since Hidden Valley Lake (subdivision) was built.”
In other business, the commission will consider whether a six-acre solar array at the Middletown Wastewater Treatment Plant conforms the county”s general plan requirements. The project is planned to power the Bear Canyon Zero pump station under construction for the Southeast Geysers wastewater pipeline.
On Tuesday, the Lake County Board of Supervisors will consider approving a memorandum of understanding with the with Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, which currently has the legal right to use approximately 314,000 acre feet of Clear Lake annually.
The agreement would formalize meetings between representatives from Lake and Yolo counties, and list water management projects that are mutually beneficial to both counties.
The board will also hear continued public input on an 11-acre ski lake proposed in Middletown. Outgoing District 1 Supervisor Ed Robey said he wanted to re-open the discussion during a Nov. 25 meeting, when the item was on the agenda for deliberation.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636 ext. 37.
