Mental health mansion?
LAKE COUNTY — Every supervisor said it would be a bad idea to buy an almost $1 million mansion on 44 acres for Mental Health permanent housing during the Lake County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday.
“If I lived here I would never want to leave,” Chairman Anthony Farrington said. “It”s a good investment for government, but government isn”t in the investment business.”
He said he would prefer looking at a few cheaper homes near each other.
“I don”t have a good gut feeling about this,” Farrington said.
Kristy Kelly, Mental Health director, brought the issue before the board and asked supervisors to allow her to pursue buying the property at 2511 Highway 53 in Clearlake. The house is about 8,000 square feet, with five bedrooms and four bathrooms and a pool. Another option would be to buy a few three or four bedroom houses for about $150,000 each in Clearlake.
Supervisor Jeff Smith said he thinks the property would be more appropriate for a winery or a bed and breakfast.
Smith figured Mental Health could buy six homes with at least 18 beds for the same price as the mansion. He said he”s seen a number of homes in a cluster that are for sale in Clearlake.
Kelly said Mental Health has an allocation of funding that can be used to develop permanent housing for clients. Department staff spoke with stakeholders and decided to target housing in Clearlake that”s not lakefront property. The upside to the large parcel is that zoning would allow for an additional 10 units per acre.
She said Mental Health would charge market value to rent the rooms and that rent would create an insurance and maintenance fund.
Kelly said the large house would have allowed for a manager to live onsite and provide space for large meetings. It would have also have given Mental Health clients the opportunity to have a garden. People would have been able to live in the house as long as they paid rent and were good tenants.
Kelly said she doesn”t think it”s a mistake to invest in a quality piece of property.
“Forty-four acres requires a lot of maintenance,” Supervisor Jim Comstock said. “I question the viability because it”s extremely costly.”
“I would look for something considerably more modest than 44 acres,” he said.
Brown said he agrees with the board and he doesn”t think the house would be appropriate.
After the board made its decision, Kelly said she doesn”t feel tremendous pressure to buy property immediately because she wants the housing to make sense for the people the county serves.
Supervisor Denise Rushing said though she knows the department is trying to save money by bringing Mental Health clients back to the county, she thinks buying property should make a difference in the community.
“Buying five homes would be a good use of taxpayer money,” Rushing said. “Many taxpayers are struggling. It would be really hard for me to say we just bought a mansion.”
Contact Katy Sweeny at kdsweeny@gmail.com or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
