LAKE COUNTY – Lake County District 4 Planning Commissioner Cliff Swetnam was named Planning Commissioner of the Year by the California chapter of the American Planning Association.
The organization provides training and education for planning commissioners in county and city governments throughout the state, and each year selects a planning commissioner to honor. Swetnam is the fourth Lake County planning commissioner to receive the honor in the last 10 years.
“I was shocked when I got it, when you consider that there are hundreds throughout the state they could give the award to. It”s pretty neat,” Swetnam said.
Swetnam retired from the Alameda County Sheriff”s Department after 28 years and began working for the Lake County Sheriff s Office in March 1999 as a bailiff. He was appointed planning commissioner in January 2001.
Swetnam is modest when talking about what he believes is good planning. He said smart growth is the way to go, but what that means varies from person to person, and from area to area.
“If you sat 10 people down and asked them, you would get eight different answers about smart growth. I think smart growth is what works well in a particular area that you live in and make decisions about,” Swetnam said.
Making the best use of the land in an area is the basis for his decisions as a commissioner, and he said even in the face of controversy, he tries to find a win-win situation.
“I believe in property owners rights – I feel rather strongly about that – and also the people have a right to have a voice in what is going to be in the community, and what they are going to have to live next door to and how the land is used,” Swetnam said.
He faced one of the most controversial decisions he”s dealt with as a planning commissioner during his first meeting eight years ago. Swetnam said neighbors of a mining operation at Putah Creek complained about the effect of the operation on the area”s water supply, noise and other concerns.
The county helped the mining operation find another location between Kelseyville and Lower Lake, according to Swetnam.
“It was a win-win. The gravel mining business was needed, because that”s what is going in the roads, and it was a real service to the community,” Swetnam said.
The most difficult decision he made was to deny a request to rezone property belonging to a friend of his. The property had been zoned resort-commercial for years, and had housed a restaurant that had burned down. After obtaining permits to build a bed and breakfast on the property, a developer had gone ahead with plans to build a home instead. To satisfy a loan, the developer sold the land to Kathy Fowler, and requested a rezone.
“Kathy was a friend of mine and a wonderful person who does a lot for the community. I voted for keeping it as a bed and breakfast, which was not a good decision for Kathy,” Swetnam said.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors eventually granted an appeal and rezoned the property.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636 ext. 37.
