CLEARLAKE — The question that many people in the City of Clearlake are asking is; Will a Lowe”s improvement center ever be built on the old airport property and if so will it solve Clearlake”s financial crisis?
Lowe”s is a national chain with 1,700 stores throughout United States, Canada and Mexico. The nearest Lowe”s to Lake County are in Cotati and Yuba City.
The City of Clearlake”s Redevelopment Agency contracted with Lowe”s to build a 137,916 square foot store which will employ 148 full time workers and 172 part time workers for a total of 320 workers. According to Clearlake City Administrator Dale Neiman, the annual gross sales of a Lowe”s store in Clearlake would amount to $30 million of which the city would receive approximately $280,000 to $320,000 in tax revenue. Neiman says that a store such as Lowe”s is vital for Clearlake to survive financially. Neiman said the city, with a population of just over 15,000, presently has a 27.5 percent unemployment rate with a household median income of only $19,863. Compare that with Lakeport that has an 18.8 percent unemployment rate and a medium household income of $32,226. According to a report put out by Clearlake, there is also widespread blight in the city with rundown buildings and poor streets. Neiman says a Lowe”s store would go a long ways toward correcting these problems.
Neiman says that without a store like Lowe”s the city would have massive layoffs and many of the local services would have the be either curtailed or eliminated entirely. In fact, recently the city did layoff a number of employees and eliminated positions in the police department and other services.
Not everyone wants a Lowe”s store in the county. In fact, the Sierra Club Lake Group has filed a lawsuit against the city in the Superior Court in Lake County, demanding that an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) be filed. The city did a file a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) declaring a negative declaration. If the Superior Court rules that a formal EIR must be filed, it could take up to two years and cost the city approximately $300,000. If the court rules the CEQA declaration is sufficient, the Lowe”s project could go ahead. However, the Sierra Club could appeal the court”s decision.
Sierra Club spokeswoman Victoria Brandon said the concerns her organization have with Lowe”s building on the old airport site are the impacts on traffic, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and urban blight caused by other local stores that would compete with Lowe”s and many may have to close. Brandon said a formal EIR would answer most of these concerns. Brandon, who lives in Clearlake, would like to see the Redevelopment funds be spent to revitalize the central business district or to attract light industry at the airport instead of spending the money on a large business such as Lowe”s.
The terms “EIR and CEQA” are often used but few people actual know what they mean or how they are applied. An EIR is the planning document which describes the environmental impacts associated with a project. Typical impacts may include: traffic, air quality, noise, city services and land use, among others. The EIR discusses these impacts and determines which ones are significant. It also describes mitigation measures to reduce the impacts to an appropriate or acceptable level. The purpose of a CEQA document is to inform governmental decision makers and the public about the potential significant environmental effects of proposed activities, identify ways that environmental damage can be avoided or significantly reduced, require changes in project through the use of alternatives or mitigation measures when feasible and disclose to the public the reasons why a project was approved if significant environmental effects are involved. CEQA applies to projects undertaken, funded or requiring an issuance of a permit by a public agency. The analysis of a project required by CEQA usually takes the form of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), Negative Declaration (ND), or Environmental Assessment (EA).
What effect Lowe”s would have on similar stores in the county is unknown. Kelseyville Lumber is larger that the proposed Lowe”s but is 17 miles away. Piedmont Lumber and Hardware in Lakeport is 21 miles away from the proposed Lowe”s site. The one store that could be impacted by Lowe”s is Mendo Mill which has a store in Clearlake.
Even if Clearlake meets all the requirements of an EIR and Lowe”s receives the go ahead to build a new store it is still likely that it will be at least two or more years away from becoming a reality.
