LAKE COUNTY >> For many of the businesses that dot the shoreline of Clear Lake, it’s difficult enough to stay in the black, but now they also worry about staying dry.
Lake County’s recent rains have swelled Clear Lake to nearly 9.8 on the Rumsey gauge, well past flood stage. While the lake has ebbed cautiously in the past few days, forecasted rains may add another two feet to its water level. The rising waters have crept up on adjacent homes and businesses, creating a perhaps unwanted “waterfront experience.”
“We’re doing OK, but today looks pretty scary,” said Pit Stop owner Terri Dias, whose burger joint sits directly on the water off Lakeshore Boulevard in Lakeport. “The water looks pretty high.”
Dias said she spend part of yesterday getting sandbags and placing them strategically around the entrance so customers can get in without stepping in the lake. As of yet, there are no leaks inside the small restaurant, which was more or less built for fluctuating lake levels. However, a large bass flopped its way onto the ramp just outside the front door.
The Pit Stop usually closes down during the rainy season, but Dias has kept it open. She said rainy days usually keep people inside their homes, but otherwise her business has been able to turn a profit despite the lack of tourists.
“I really want to stay open,” She said.
The very same waters have impeded local services, such as the Lakeport Disposal Company, which must avoid some flooded roadways.
“It’s pretty limited,” said manager Lance Butcher. “It’s mostly the Esplanade area.”
That area and a few other waterfront properties in Lakeport have mainly coped by moving their outdoor garbage bins uphill, where the trucks can pick them up.
Butcher anticipates more of the same during the upcoming rains. He said it’s likely that more streets will become unreachable and more homes will need to move their bins uphill if they want them emptied.
While the waters have created a shallow barrier between many businesses and their customer base, the very same waters have brought new customers ashore.
“It was dead as a doornail the last couple of weeks,” said David Yahn, an employee at the Boathouse Bar in Nice. “All of a sudden we’re extremely busy. It’s almost an attraction.”
As the name suggests, the Boathouse Bar sits directly on the waterfront. Like the Pit Stop, the bar’s water-ready structure has remained dry despite levels that have completely surrounded the building and moved onto the street. Yahn said they’ve built makeshift ramps to carry customers to the door.
Yahn pointed to a photo of the bar taken in 1982, when water levels basically turned the structure into an island. Ironically, the bar seems to attract more attention when waters surround it.
“I keep asking people: ‘where are you parking?,’” Yahn said.
Even if the water levels rise, he said the bar will likely stay open as long as there’s no threat to the inside itself.
Similarly, Sterling Shoreline Estates, located on the shores of Lakeport, hasn’t seen the need to worry. Owner Kurt Golchert has taken measures to ensure the seawall on the senior mobile home property is in good condition. Aside from those concerns, most of his tenants have enjoyed the sudden experience of living on beachfront property.
“These people want to live on the water,” Golchert said.
Some businesses have seen the water as a stroke of good fortune, such as Clear Lake Cottages & Marina, on the waters of Clearlake.
“We lucked out,” said Manager Bob Vander Oude. “We’re actually doing fine.”
Vander Oude said the property has a floating marina, which has only drifted closer to the buildings; where a ramp once led down to the marina, it now leads upward.
Moreover, the marina has an ongoing off-season special, where customers can rent kayaks as part of their usual fees. He’s rented out quite a few on the nicer days. Given the recent ban of motorized boats on the lake, his kayak’s prove even more attractive.
“It was good timing,” he said. “It’s busy; it feels like Summer.”
