LAKEPORT >> Proposed changes to Lake County Vector Control”s zoning designation and general plan designation for its four parcels on a small corner of Esplanade St. met with unexpected criticism from the district”s neighbors at Wednesday”s planning commission meeting.
The neighbors expressed their reluctance to condone the agency”s anticipated expansion, as limited parking spaces congest the street. In addition, promises to make changes in the past have not been fulfilled, according to the attendees of the meeting.
Vector Control has owned just less than an acre of property in the jam-packed residential area for the last 60 years. After a property tax was passed in 2009 to supplement the independent district”s services, the district now decided to move forward with plans to further develop and upgrade the location by replacing two of its buildings.
Wednesday”s proposal dealt specifically with the district”s desire for a voluntary merger of three contiguous parcels, where the districts” office and lab, maintenance building and a parking area are situated; a request to amend its zoning designation from a resort residential to a public and civic uses (PCU) zone; and a request to amend inconsistencies between the city”s general plan and zoning designations for all four parcels by designating them as PCU.
Separate proposals will be submitted to the planning commission for the district”s anticipated construction projects in the future. Commissioners were insistent upon keeping the discussion relevant to the proposal for zoning changes on Wednesday evening, rather than allow conversation to spill into possible issues with the preliminary plans for new buildings on the property.
However, if Vector Control receives the commission”s approval for its zoning changes, it is expected to eventually propose tearing down its laboratory building and adding a modern laboratory facility addition to the existing administrative building that sits behind it, according to a letter from Vector Control District Manager Jamesina Scott.
After the replacement of its laboratory is completed, the district plans to improve its other facility at Todd Road and relocate its main workshop to that site. With construction estimated to begin in 2017, the final step of the plan would be replacing the existing steel garage and shop building that sits caddy corner to the current laboratory with an enclosed garage for parking the district”s vehicles. The garage would also extend to the current parking lot that sits behind the existing maintenance building.
“The planned improvements ? are intended to provide adequate working space for the existing employees and to accommodate improvements to the laboratory to meet present safety requirements,” Scott”s letter summarizes. “The district anticipates no increase in the number of staff or the number of daily visitors ? or traffic.”
In regard”s to Wednesday evening”s proposal though, neighbors of the vector control facility took to the podium to express their concerns.
Verna Schaffer, who lives on Esplanade St., voiced her dismay that public notice of the proposal wasn”t received by property owners until the day of the deadline for public communication, Oct. 30. While almost a whole row of the property owners on Esplanade live in the Bay Area, she said she was fortunate to find out about the proposal three weeks in advance and notify her neighbors through emails before the papers were eventually received.
She was also the first to express the sentiment that Vector Control has a record of being allowed to do what it wants without being enforced to keep its promises by the city of Lakeport. She pointed to the agreement between the city and the district in 1997 where the district agreed to demolish its laboratory if it was allowed to build its administrative building behind it. However, the laboratory is still standing 17 years later.
An email from Britton to Schaffer explained the city had tried, without success, to force Vector Control to demolish the building in 2002, according to Schaffer.
“The problem is, Lakeport never enforces its laws in a consistent way,” Schaffer said in a later interview.
Scott responded by stating the district never had the funding to demolish its laboratory before now.
Schaffer also raised concern with the proposed number of parking spaces for the facility”s renovations.
While Vector Control”s preliminary plans do not include the number of spaces that will be made available after the new buildings are constructed, the commission”s staff report recommends the project establish a requirement for at least 16 off-street parking spaces.
Even then, Lakeport city rules requires an off-street parking space for every 250-square-feet of office space and with Vector Control”s current 6,500 square feet of facilities, Schaffer argues the district should already allow for 26 parking spaces.
“I want to make sure Vector Control doesn”t make Esplanade its parking lot,” Schaffer concluded at the meeting.
The staff report does call for the district to submit a parking analysis in conjunction with future project phases, however.
For Ron and Barbara Burch, who live on C Street on the other side of the district”s facilities, their primary worry is the chemicals kept at the laboratory. The staff report also stated the city”s biggest concern is the infectious agents and pesticides used at the existing facility.
Scott noted that a large majority of the district”s chemicals were stored at its Todd Road location, though, and the staff report explains only small, consumable quantities of various lab chemicals (mainly isopropyl alcohol, ethanol and acetone) are kept at the Esplanade site.
“Incidental small quantities of pesticide [are stored] in locked containers on the district”s trucks that are parked inside the locked garage on Esplanade,” the report adds.
The Burchs are still wary though. Before Wednesday”s meeting, the Burchs took a tour of the facility and saw about eight gallon jugs of acetone sitting on the laboratory”s floor, they said. They also have seen chemicals delivered to the Esplanade location on palates and assumes they”re transported to the Todd Road location after delivery.
“You can”t mitigate human error, floods, fires or earthquakes,” Barbara said.
The Burchs” house stands 5 feet away from Vector Control”s facility and PCU zoning of a parcel requires a 10 feet setback from residential homes. Their concern also goes out to the Lakeport Christian Center preschool, which stands approximately 600 feet west of the facility, according to the staff report.
During their tour they had also asked Scott what classification the new laboratory would have and, according to the Burchs, she said she did not know.
“Who knows what kind of lab they”re going to build in the future, so why even put it here?” Barbara said, adding that originally, the facility had a one-room laboratory and now its entire front building is needed for laboratory space.
Their final concern is over how the tax money levied in 2009 is being spent. Scott had promised in a letter to the editor that the revenues would improve disease surveillance and mosquito control, improve the district”s ability to respond to emerging vector-borne diseases, replace equipment and perform maintenance to its facilities.
The staff report, however, describes some of the tax funds are planned to be used to purchase land and replace existing facilities.
“This is not what we thought we were voting for,” Ron said.
Following the public comment period, the commissioners noted they had originally felt the proposal would be cut and dry, but after hearing from residents felt they needed more time to consider the issues at hand.
Commissioner Ross Kauper said he would like to see a comprehensive plan for Vector Control”s proposed facility changes. Scott explained she didn”t think it would be the best use of tax payer money to develop a full plan before the zoning changes were approved.
“Frankly, I”m a little surprised by some of the comments I heard tonight,” she added.
In response to the public”s question as to why Vector Control couldn”t move its laboratory to Todd Road since it would be rebuilding it anyway, Scott said the district had looked into relocating the facility but the location”s septic system would be unable to handle the needs of its full-time staff.
The residents insisted that Vector Control, while it”s been a good neighbor, has outgrown its space on Esplanade.
The commissioners moved to reconsider the proposal in 60 days.
“I think this is going to turn out to be an interesting ordeal and we”re going to see more people at the next meeting,” Ron Burch said.
Scott was unavailable for comment concerning the district”s use of tax monies, whether chemicals are delivered to the Esplanade site and the classification of the future laboratory on Friday. Her comments and analysis of the issues will be published in a later edition of the Record-Bee.
