LAKEPORT — When Glenn Wienke was a boy, he and his dad used to take trips to Diamond Lumber, a hardware store on South Main Street in Lakeport.
In 2009, more than 30 years later, Wienke bought the building and converted it into his second restaurant, TJ”s Downtown Bar and Grill.
The inside of the building had been renovated to include a dance floor, dining room and bar. But the bland storefront, a vestige of its old hardware store days, needed work.
“I have probably one of the ugliest storefronts in the city of Lakeport; I”ll admit it,” Wienke said.
A solution came when he heard about the Lakeport Redevelopment Agency (RDA) and its Fa?ade Enhancement Program, which provides as much as $30,000 in funding for design and construction of new storefronts.
Wienke teamed up with Richard Knoll, director of the Lakeport RDA, and had architects draw up plans for the renovation, which included a stone entryway, outside dining amenities and a new front roof line.
Then in June, Wienke got a call from Knoll that put those plans in jeopardy.
“He said, ?I”m sorry to call you, but the Governor signed legislation to go ahead and pull the funds out of redevelopment,”” Wienke said. “I was absolutely shocked.”
The legislation Knoll referred to, the ABX1 26 “Dissolution” bill, threatens to eliminate every RDA in California, some 400 entities, unless their governing bodies establish a “continuation ordinance” that entails paying the state a large sum of money. Under new law, the city of Lakeport must pay an estimated $311,534 to the state by Jan. 1, or the Lakeport RDA will be dissolved.
Wienke was in attendance at Tuesday night”s joint meeting of the Lakeport City Council and the Lakeport RDA to request that the city pay the state to save the RDA.
“I”m asking the city council to give them the ransom,” he said, speaking from a wooden podium in the council chambers.
After Knoll and Wienke spoke, Suzanne Russell, the Vice-Chair of the Lakeport Planning Commission, came to the podium and praised the Lakeport RDA for beautifying Lakeport.
“I think we should pay the ransom, because without Richard (Knoll) and his efforts, this town would look like an old lady without a facelift,” she said.
After questioning city officials in attendance about the issue, the Lakeport City Council unanimously directed city staff to draft an ordinance as outlined by ABX1 27, the companion bill to ABX1 26, which establishes a “Voluntary Alternative Redevelopment Program.” The Lakeport RDA will be able to enter into new contracts and agreements if the proposed ordinance is enacted by Oct. 1.
The California Redevelopment Association (CRA) and League of California Cities intend to file suit within the next few days requesting an immediate stay of ABX1 27 and ABX1 26 on the grounds that the laws are illegal under the state”s Constitution, according to a report drafted by Lakeport finance director Dan Buffalo.
Proposition 22, which passed in November with a 60-percent majority, prevents the state from taking local funds such as the tax increment revenue collected by the Lakeport RDA, Knoll said.
Until the courts rule on the constitutionality of ABX1 26 and 27, the city is planning to pay the state with money from the RDA and the housing set-aside fund, Knoll said.
Because Wienke”s agreement with the city was made prior to the signing of the “Dissolution Bill,” his fa?ade enhancement will continue despite the redevelopment agency”s freeze, provided the agency survives. Wienke testified to ensure that Lakeport reaches its potential as a beautiful and prosperous city, not to further his own interests, he said.
“That”s what brought me down there,” Wienke said. “Seeing the redevelopment dream come true.”
Ben Mullin is a Lake County native and an English/journalism student attending California State University, Chico. He will spend his summer as a contributor to the Record-Bee.
