LAKE COUNTY ? The first draft of a land use plan that will guide planning and growth along the Northshore made its public debut Monday night at the Lucerne Senior Center.
The plan, dubbed the Shoreline Communities Area Plan, establishes policies to guide growth in the area for 20 years. The 283-square-mile planning area spans approximately 22 percent of Lake County. It sweeps from Lucerne to the easternmost county line and includes Kono Tayee, Paradise Cove, Glenhaven, Clearlake Oaks, Spring Valley, portions of Clearlake Park and the unincorporated areas north of the City of Clearlake.
“Right now if you drive along Highway 20, community development sprawls all along the highway. What the area plan tries to do is set up zoning and general plan designations so the community areas are clustered together a little bit better,” Lake County Community Development Department Project Manager Kevin Ingram said.
Establishing town centers in Clearlake Oaks and Lucerne is one of the plan”s major goals, according to Ingram. He said the policies in the plan will facilitate the Lake County Redevelopment Agency”s efforts to encourage investment in the area.
Lucerne resident Louise Talley asked whether the plan would create a problem for area resorts by adding restrictions on signage along the Highway 20 scenic corridor.
Coel said zoning restrictions currently limits off-site signs to no larger than 32 square feet unless the signs are billboards, which are only allowed in heavy commercial areas with a permit.
Ingram said another major goal is addressing illegal dumping and off-road vehicle riding on thousands of “paper subdivisions” in the foothills above Lucerne. The parcels average 6,000 square feet apiece and are largely unusable unless they can be merged, according to Ingram. He said in many cases, the owners haven”t been identified and the land is passed from generation to generation, or re-sold online and purchased sight-unseen.
“A long-term solution is coming up with some sort of system to contact the individuals and see what their actual plans are for the sites,” Ingram said.
This is the last of eight area plans to be completed in Lake County, according to Ingram. Ingram said no area plan has ever existed for Lucerne and the areas lying north and east. He said the land was zoned in sections starting in the 1960s.
Ingram said an advisory committee took less than a year to finish the plan after it was put aside following more than three years of work that began in 2000. The draft area plan will undergo revisions after a public review period, and then go before the Lake County Planning Commission.
The draft Shoreline Communities Area Plan is available for review online at www.co.lake.ca.us. Copies of the plan are also available at the county libraries and at the Lake County Community Development Department, located on the third floor of the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
