MIDDLETOWN >> A complete rebuilding of Harbin Hot Springs might take significantly longer than expected. Harbin managing directors Sajjad Mahmud and Julie Adams referred to the stalled project as “unnecessarily delayed.”
The hold up, as they see it, has been caused by the county. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors heard from Mahmud, who is also the Senior Vice President, and Adams who is the Vice President. Both members presented a lengthy letter stating several challenges have risen under current Lake County Community Development (LCCD) management.
A section of the letter read: “The rebuilding process for us has been an obstacle course through excessive and over the top documentation requirements and ineffective LCCD service process with delays in plan check and building permits approval. In our past experience with LCCD over the 40 years over many projects, the county was practical, fair and effective. This has been missing in the last year.”
The alleged obstacles date back to late September of 2016, when the General Plan of Development was asked to be updated “by the book” or else further progress, including permits, would not be allowed. This was communicated to Harbin’s managing team at the time by then new LCCD director Bob Massarelli.
More than two months later, with no response to approval of plans and permits, the Harbin board reached out to former District 1 Supervisor Jim Comstock and Rob Brown, District 5, to intervene and get permits. Just as construction was to resume, the winter rains of late 2016 and early 2017 limited rebuilding efforts.
In July of this year, Harbin was still in Phase 1, which included the opening of its historical, spring-fed pools. It anticipated some pools to be ready by the end of summer. However, according to the latest updates found on Harbin’s website, several pools were still stalled in the permit, design, and installation process.
“Phase 1 rebuilding is to restore the pools to day use. We have building permits for this phase, and the construction has been going on for close to [two] years. It is expected to complete in early 2018,” Mahmud said via email.
What followed has been a series of delayed plan checks, applications, and inspections. Their central halt revolved around the General Plan update, without which construction in the spring of 2018 would not be possible. Harbin expected to have this completed and approved by the planning commission and board of supervisors, but a list of additional requirements has now pushed rebuild efforts to resume in the spring or early summer of next year.
“They (the additional requirements) were particularly burdensome, bureaucratic and excessive for a post-catastrophic rebuilding…The fulfillment of these requirements could easily take another [six] months to years…,” Mahmud and Adams explained in their letter.
Additionally stated in the document were two points raised: an “emotional” argument in that hundreds of Lake County residents and thousands of outside guests continue to wait for Harbin’s rebuild. Second, an “economic” argument that said the delay is costing the county about $150,000 per year in room, sales, and property tax.
“We are speaking up not just for ourselves but also for other Lake County residents and businesses, so they don’t face the same challenges,” Adams and Mahmud said in the letter.
Supervisor Jeff Smith similarly agreed during the BOS meeting saying, “This has always been and will always be a very important project to all of us. I think we made that really clear a week after the fire (Valley Fire). We know how important it is to patrons and businesses in Middletown.”
Simon did not have an immediate solution but suggested better and more frequent communication between the Harbin board and the LCCD.
As a result, LCCD and Harbin agreed then to meet once a month to facilitate any planning and rebuilding issues, with Simon receiving updates on each meeting.
