CLEARLAKE OAKS— Recognizing additional funds were needed for an ambitious road rehabilitation the Public Works Department revisited initial plans to make the project more inclusive as attendees at the East Regional Town Hall were informed of the extended map of coverage, 7 February.
Scott De Leon, Lake County Public Works director, planning for a Cob Mountain project for this summer, explained to the ERTH audience, the department’s intention to modify initial plans for road rehab that now covers a significant number of more roads then when first proposed. “We’ve added all the roads in Clearlake Oaks’ Keys,” said De Leon. “The roads will also include: Cerrito, Alta Vista and Island Dr. Oak Center Way, and all roads in Glenhaven,” he said. “And I caught the roads in between Glenhaven and the Oaks and added to those: Olsen, Pingray, Swanson, Spring Rd, Henderson, Chatham, Terrance, Hillcrest, Harvey Young, Terry, and Mitchell.”
They also hired a pavement management consultant, NCD, which specializes in a full line of professional general contracting, design and construction management services capable of building clients’ next residential or commercial construction projects. The company is based in West Lake Village, California, just south of Thousand Oaks. As first proposed it was a network of 70 roads built over 10 years. It currently stand at 33 roads. “Two weeks in with an analysis, I said you don’t have enough money,” De Leon recalled. “This is not a feasible project and was then reduced to 50 roads over five years.
Because there was a lot to repair, Cobb Mountain, which went through the Valley Fire in 2015 with significant homes lost, roads were lost to suppression efforts, explained De Leon. After hearing public comments at the Board of Supervisor’s meeting the rehab plan went in different direction starting with hiring of NCD as pavement manager. “Revision of plan included roads residents asked for,” De Leon said. “We’ll start with design and have it ready when funding becomes available. Based on estimates NCD had, additional roads were added.” When further pressed about a timetable by the audience, if 2026 was the construction date, De Leon answered, “That’s the plan we scheduled but it depends on funding (availability),” he said.
Another resident asked about PG&E tearing up roads for new conduit at Cobb Mountain and the surrounding hills and if anybody was working with them to compensate road work? De Leon explained they were in many places in Lake County and Public Works assigned an individual to deal with them. “We’ve had meetings with PG&E and if PG&E damages a road, they’ve got to replace it. We’ve let PG&E know we’re serious about any damage they’re doing on and around Cobb Mountain.” De Leon went on that one 150 foot section of road was unpaved. He explained to the utility, if they put a culvert in, they need to return to repair not just the trench but a full restoration.
De Leon reminded the audience if they have a road issue to not call the road yard, because crews are likely out working on a repair but instead phone the main office at: 707-263-2341, speak with staff or leave a message. “Service Requests get recorded and if it hasn’t been addressed by the end of the month, it’ll come back to the top of the list, rolled over to next month and forwarded to the foreman, said De Leon. “Service requests do not get bumped if multiple calls are made on same issue.” He further explained the crews are competitive and aim to complete all calls by end of the month and not see carryover to the next month. Another person asked about potholes. Again, he urged residents if they see a pothole, it is very important the public calls the above number so the department can dispatch a crew for repairs in a timely manner.
Mireya Turner, Community Development Department said that for cannabis regulations aim to keep storefront retailers out of the C1 and C2 zones so as to protect high density population areas, especially as pertains to cannabis special events. Also all cannabis regulations will be archived in one location: Article 73. And new development standards go though an environmental analysis and get vetted by the Ag. Advisory Committee, the Planning Commission, and distributed in a public notice publication by fall.
Marcus Beltramo, Code Enforcement Manager provided statistics on recent success some of which include: opening 545 cases from June 2022 to February 2024, 293 cases brought into compliance, resolved 67 outdoor storage cases and 33 refuse cases among others. Regarding substandard property cases, Beltramo said receivership is the best tool they have. A number of cases are known as multiplier and magnate cases. Magnate because they attract all the bad elements and multiplies many of Code Enforcement violations. He called receivership a most reliable tool because it enables them to remove dangerous properties (fire hazards) and sell them to new owners.
