LAKEPORT — The Lake County Planning Commission Thursday denied a proposal from Stott Outdoor Advertising to revise the previously approved conditions for two billboards to be placed on property on Empire Lane in Middletown.
The Chico-based company proposed to decrease the size of the billboard from 12-feet-by-24-feet to 8-feet-by-24-feet, while also eliminating two county-imposed conditions aimed at decreasing the signs” visual impact.
The approved sign conditions included an eight-foot cover to conceal the support pole and a foot-long frame around the billboard”s fa?ade. The proposed modifications did not include those elements.
Stott Advertising representative Jim Moravec told the commission that the two mitigation conditions would add to the project”s cost and that a “reasonable” compromise could be reached by decreasing the size of billboards.
Planning Division staff recommended denying the proposal because the suggested uses would “detract from the aesthetic character of the sites” and “would not be compatible with existing development on the sites.”
Commissioner Cliff Swetnam said he does not approve of billboards in the county because they are “a visual blight” and they “divert the attention of the driving public.” He added that if they are to exist in the county, they need to “look a little better than they do,” and that the proposed changes to the approved plans were not visual improvements.
Commissioner Clelia Baur said that the required frame could detract from the negative visual impact more so than decreasing the size, if the frame was made from wood, rocks or similar ecological material.
The commission voted 4-0 to deny the proposed design review changes. Commissioner Michael van der Boon was absent from Thursday”s regular meeting.
The commission approved several motions regarding the proposed terrace gravel mining project on the North Fork of Cache Creek on New Long Valley Road in Clearlake Oaks applied for by Clearlake Lava, Inc.
The company plans to mine the area for two or three days a week between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. for an estimated seven years. The mined materials would be transported to a processing site on Highway 20, ultimately being used for such things as aggregate base, sand and concrete ready-mix.
The project”s use permit included a number of mitigation measures to protect biological resources, water and air quality, noise concerns and vegetation and wildlife conditions. There is also a reclamation component calling for reclamation ponds to be constructed.
The commission approved by 4-0 votes that the use permit would not have a significant environmental impact, the use permit itself and the project”s reclamation plan.
The commission also approved the county acquiring a “paper lot” in the Pine Dell subdivision in Clearlake Park that a property owner offered to donate.
The lots generally are unable to be developed, resulting into tax default for landowners and illegal use of the property, associate planner Alan Flora told the commission. The county would be responsible for controlling, policing and insuring the safety of the property, Flora said.
The Lakeport Planning Commission met briefly Wednesday evening at Lakeport City Hall. The only regular calendar agenda item was a review of 2010 yearend report of Planning Department activities.
Planning services manager Andrew Britton told the city commission that the number of land-use applications decreased in 2010 (47 total applications) compared to 2009 (64 applications).
Planning staff “kept busy” despite the application decrease, Britton said. The number of significant nuisance and zoning violations nearly doubled last year, rising to 35 in 2010 from 18 in 2009.
Nuisance vehicle abatements also increased in 2010. Many of the 27 vehicle abatements occurred at properties on Armstrong Street and Parallel Drive.
The city commission approved the 2010 annual report by a 4-0 vote. Commissioner Suzanne Russell was absent from Wednesday”s regular meeting.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37. Mandy Feder contributed to this article.
