MIDDLETOWN — The Lake County Board of Supervisors concluded a six-year process Tuesday offering resolutions for updating the Middletown Area Plan.
A stipulation attached to a resolution provides direction for future/further expansion of community growth boundaries (CGB).
Following a six-year process that utilized the assistance of an advisory committee and a public hearing process the BOS rendered decisions describing the future growth of the Middletown area for the next 20 years.
The actions included, but weren”t limited to, the rezoning of portions of approximately 150 square miles of unincorporated territory including the communities of Middletown, Hidden Valley Lake and Anderson Springs along with outlying rural areas as well as expansion of CGBs to include a 19-parcel property formerly known as Vintage Faire.
Tuesday”s discussion of the item focused primarily on the consideration of expanding CGBs with particular regard to a 104-acre property owned by Rudy and Faith Smith.
The property is situated west of Dry Creek between Highway 175 and Dry Creek Cut-off. CGBs as prescribed in the General Plan are to accommodate a three percent annual growth rate. According to Community Development Director Rick Coel, realistically the county experiences an average two percent annual growth rate. He said three percent provides a cushion. Community growth expectations prescribed in the 1989 update of the area plan have not been met and according Coel currently provide for about 5.1 percent continued growth.
Coel said that with the inclusion of the former Vintage Faire property, CGBs will accommodate about a 5.3 percent growth.
Coel said that while staff thinks that it is premature to include the Smith property it is the most logical place for community growth. “From the information that we have now, it just seems premature to add that property,” he said. Additionally, Coel said adding the property would be in conflict with the General Plan”s requirement that 85 percent of the area”s infill property must be developed or unavailable before CGB expansions are justified.
Coel said including the Smith property in the CGBs at this point would present a possibility for immediate development that the county would have less control over.
As suggested by Supervisor Smith during a previous discussion of the update, Coel and Senior Planner Kevin Ingram composed a policy stipulating that the Smith property be considered first should CGBs require expansion in the future.
The stipulation was attached to a resolution that amended the General Plan excluding the Smith property from the current CGB expansion. Furthermore, the motion returned a 105-acre property owned by the Rosenthals to rural residential zoning.
Other motions included that which removed Lake County Planning Commission”s findings from the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) determining that the Smith property is not prime agricultural land, which conflicts with state agency soil mapping. The motion was passed 4-1 with Supervisor Jim Comstock casting the dissenting vote. The vote was followed by another motion passed with the same vote count, recertifying the EIR.
Another motion adopted a sectional zoning map rezoning lands within the Middletown Area Plan boundaries.
Contact South County reporter Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com or call her directly at 994-6444, ext. 11.
