CLEARLAKE ? The Clearlake City Council/Redevelopment Agency will hold a special joint meeting at 6 p.m. today at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive. The purpose of the special session concerns four items of business pertaining to the sale and development of the RDA”s airport property.
In its first order of business, the council will entertain is a public hearing addressing three points of business including: whether to certify the draft mitigated negative declaration/initial environmental study in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act; authorize the executive director to execute the draft disposition and development agreement (DDA); and authorize the executive director to execute the land exchange agreement with the adjoining property owner to the south.
A second public hearing will follow for the purpose of considering the DDA between the RDA and KK Raphel Properties, LLC and authorizing the city administrator and city clerk to execute the agreement.
A third public hearing will conclude items of business. It will be for the purpose of considering the abandonment of part of the right-of-way for Airport Road.
In 2006, the RDA solicited proposals for development of a commercial complex and Katz Kirkpatrick Properties (KKP) was awarded an exclusive negotiation agreement (ENA) in April 2007. The ENA was finalized the third week in November 2009.
A public review and comment period was opened on the draft mitigated negative declaration of environmental impact on Dec. 1 and closed on Dec. 31. The purpose today”s meeting is to receive oral and written comments on the proposed sale and development of the airport property.
The project consists of the development of seven parcels of land totaling 14.003 acres. The largest parcel is 9.68 acres in size and is expected to accommodate a Lowe”s home improvement store. The Lowe”s building, as proposed, will be 111,348 square feet in size, plus an additional 26,568 square feet for its outdoor garden center. The store is to be a single-story structure consisting of tilt up walls, a combination of wood and steel frame roof system and a concrete slab on grade floor.
Parcels two, three and four, which total about 2.74 acres, as proposed, will host restaurants expected to include drive thru facilities. Parcel five, which is 1.607 acres, will host a sit-down restaurant. Parcels six and seven, totaling 1.366 will be developed to accommodate business services and/or repair services.
The negative mitigated declaration finds that as mitigated, no significant environmental impact will occur as a result of the project. It also finds that potential significant environmental impacts are mitigated to a less than significant level by the mitigation measures determined in the initial study and mitigated negative declaration.
Neiman said there were 43 measures analyzed and mitigated in the initial study, some of which included fire flows, aesthetics, landscaping, signage, elevations, agriculture resources, air quality, traffic, drainage and sewer.
City Administrator Dale Neiman said this project is an effort aimed at retaining sales tax revenues. “The bottom line is we are not capturing our fair share of retail sales,” he said. “Another thing going on is there is a lot of retail sales going over the hill. What we”re trying to do with this is keep that money local.”
Neiman said in his opinion if this sale of the airport property does not go through, the city is looking at about a $3.8 million loss in relation to the costs associated with the agency”s purchase of the property.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com or call her directly at 994-6444, ext. 11.
