MIDDLETOWN — The Sept. 13 Middletown Area Town Hall (MATH) featured presentations by Lake County officials Debra Sommerfield and Richard Coel on the county”s efforts toward economic development and tourism marketing. The meeting was chaired by Joe Sullivan.
Sommerfield, with the Lake County Marketing and Economic Development Program, discussed the ways her office is furthering the Economic Development Marketing Strategic Plan approved by the Lake County Board of Supervisors in November, 2011.
She named top priorities including increasing awareness of Lake County as a tourist destination and placing “heads in beds,” a shorthand phrase denoting overnight vacation stays. Overnight stays are taxed at 9 percent in non-incorporated areas and can, according to Sommerfield, generate significant county revenue.
Sommerfield said there is a move away from conventional media toward online promotion. The county launched a website, lakecounty.com, in April, and puts out a monthly e-newsletter. New directions notwithstanding, Sommerfield particularly touted recent successes in print media placement such as an “Editor”s Pick” feature on Mount Konocti in Sunset Magazine (March, 2012) and a cover article on Lake County in Touring and Tasting Magazine (Summer/Fall, 2012). The wine industry is a main focus for marketing and economic development.
Sommerfield emphasized her office”s involvement in various collaborative ventures such as the Destinations visitor guide, the Lucerne Visitor Center, movie production (Francis Ford Coppola”s Twixt was filmed here), conversion of the Lucerne Hotel to a college and a series of business networking workshops. The workshops have brought business owners together and helped them develop packages of services such as combination hotel and golf deals.
Richard Coel, director of the community development department, spoke about incentives and assistance being offered to businesses and developers by the county.
“Lake County”s clean air and affordable housing can be attractive to companies looking to expand or relocate,” Coel said.
A “fee waiver and deferral” policy was passed by the Board of Supervisors in December, 2011 and will expire this December. No large development projects have yet taken advantage of it.
Coel said the south county area has “huge potential” for development, particularly in the case of three large properties ? Langtry, Crazy Creek Glider Port area near Hidden Valley Lake and a parcel off of Highway 175 near Middletown owned by Mike Browning. Possible uses include resorts, light manufacturing, and a business park. According to Coel, heavy, potentially polluting, industry is not likely an option because of transportation expenses.
Coel said the supervisors support a concept of “pre-entitling” certain properties and his office is available to work with owners to get environmental, zoning and use permit approvals so that developers would only have to get building permits when a company is ready to relocate to Lake County. It is difficult to locate property owners ready for the process.
Additional issues addressed by MATH were Middletown Square Park benches, Caltrans Route 29 grant implementation, semi-truck traffic to Star Gardens Nursery being disrupted by park construction, late-night noise and unsightly property. A public meeting of the Community Advisory Committee for the Caltrans grant is scheduled for Oct. 4 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Calpine Visitors Center in Middletown.
