LAKEPORT — The Lake County Planning Commission Thursday unanimously approved three motions regarding the Bottle Rock Power, LLC (BRP) proposed expansion project in Cobb.
“Obviously we”re satisfied with the results and the Planning Commission unanimously approving all of the items that were on the agenda, indicating that Lake County is in favor of our project and that we were diligent in our environmental studies,” Brian Harms, BRP general manager said.
The expansion project cleared a major hurdle after the commission approved minor modifications to BRP”s existing use permit and associated traffic control plan, approved the new use permit for the project and recommended the project”s rezone proposal to the Board of Supervisors.
The agenda items had been continued from a daylong special hearing on Dec. 22. Thursday”s hearing on the expansion project lasted more than seven hours.
BRP has proposed to construct two well pads and drill up to 22 production and injection wells during the life of the project. About 1.3 miles of new pipeline would connect the proposed well pads to existing pipeline currently serving the plant.
BRP entered into an agreement with the Binkley Family Trust, the landowners of the property on which the expansion would sit, in August to lease roughly 470 acres of surface land on High Valley Road in Cobb. The company obtained the subsurface rights to the area from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 2007, Harms said.
“The [Binkley Family] Ranch is in support of the project as long as Bottle Rock adheres to all rules and regulations,” said Chris Mahnke, ranch manager, trustee and official spokesperson for the Binkley Family Trust.
“Geothermal energy is present and we should work together as best as possible,” Mahnke said. The 11 trustees unanimously approved the surface agreement with BRP, according to Mahnke.
BRP currently operates three well pads and a power plant on land adjacent to the Binkley leasehold.
Thursday”s BRP hearing began at 10:20 a.m. and closed to public input around 3:50 p.m.
About 10 residents who own or lease property on High Valley Road near the power plant expressed concern about a number of issues with proposed modifications to the traffic control plan.
Major concerns included the location of the BRP security gate, where the security guard will be posted, large semi-truck traffic outside of the hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, trucks idling on Bottle Rock Road outside BRP”s gate, resident access to homes within the proposed construction boundary and hydrogen sulfide emissions.
The commission reached consensus that staff needed to rework several portions of the proposed permits and plans to include language about some of the residents” concerns.
The hearing broke for nearly 40 minutes while Community Development Director Richard Coel made the necessary adjustments in the BOS Chambers on a projected computer screen.
Coel said the situation was “not unusual” as staff “regularly make amendments on the fly, in session with the Planning Commission.”
The modifications Coel made to the original drafts of the use permits and traffic control plan, upon direction from the commission, included limiting trucks to five minutes of idling in roads and not blocking residential driveways and stating that a guard would be placed at the Bottle Rock Road gate during new construction and drilling activities.
Coel included language requiring that hydrogen sulfide monitoring occur at a particular residence on High Valley Road, from which the family said they had to move because of pungent smells.
The final clarification addressed off-hour truck traffic, which Coel said would only be allowed for an “unforeseen unusual need.”
Such needs could happen for health or safety circumstances or during times in which BRP has begun work that cannot be easily stopped. The county required that BRP act with “due diligence” to notify the county and the plant”s neighbors in instances of “unforeseen unusual needs.”
Coel made most changes to the use permits and traffic control plan during the meeting but did not complete the final drafting of the documents as approved by the commission.
Coel said he expects the final versions to be completed today and newly-elected Commission Chairman Bob Malley will review those versions before directing Coel to sign off on the new use permit, modified existing use permit and associated traffic control plan. Coel said the final versions should be signed by next week.
There is a seven-day period during which any interested person can appeal the commission”s decisions provided necessary forms and fees are completed.
Ron Fidge, a member of the Binkley family who leases land on the family”s High Valley Road property, said he and a number of the High Valley residents plan to appeal the rulings.
Any appeal would be filed with the BOS and be heard at a future BOS meeting. As it stands, the expansion project will appear before the BOS at a later date to address the rezone proposal.
BRP has scheduled a public meeting for Tuesday between 6 and 8 p.m. at the BRP plant conference room, at which the company “will present an update on the project and progress on several items of interest to the community and regulatory partners.”
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
