CLEARLAKE — City Manager Joan Phillipe is trying to get everybody with an idea of what downtown Clearlake should look like on the same page.
At Tuesday”s meeting of the city”s planning commission, it became more a question of what downtown Clearlake should sound like.
The commission basically supported a proposed ordinance that would allow music venues on Lakeshore Drive between Old Highway 53 and Olympic Drive, with some obvious restrictions involving time of day and how high the volume”s cranked.
“There was a great deal of support (among the commissioners) for the ordinance,” Phillipe said, which means she and her staff will work on the wording of a draft that should also jive with other proposed guidelines — three different sets of them, in fact.
In late June, Phillipe began a push for a temporary moratorium on construction and major remodel projects in the “Lakeshore corridor,” which she hoped would enable these sets of guidelines to get synchronized. For starters, the council gave her three months.
The design guidelines in question are the Lakeshore Drive Downtown Corridor Plan, which is near completion; the Vision Task Force Report, which was accepted in 2007 by the council but never implemented; and the city”s General Plan, which is in the process of being updated.
Phillipe, who took over as Clearlake”s city manager in October of 2011, admits the design process has been a challenge, not just for staff, but for the planning commission and city council as well, largely because despite the numerous reports and plans that have been undertaken, no design guidelines are currently in place.
“But I think all the elements are coming into place,” she said.
Expected in coming weeks are more draft ordinances going back and forth between the planning commission and city staff, with the baton eventually being passed on to the city council.
Rich Mellott is staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. He can be reached at 263-5636, ext. 14 or rmellott@record-bee.com.
