CLEARLAKE>> Thursday at the Judge’s Breakfast in Clearlake, District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier presented on the current situation with the federal government and future happenings around District 2 and the city of Clearlake.
Sabatier began the conversation discussing the most recent chapter 8, and chapter 7 tax sales. During these sales, the city of Clearlake took the opportunity to purchase several properties located next to the movie theater. Before purchasing these lots known as the Cecil properties, as they are next to Cecil’s Pizza, the vacant lots were known to be an eyesore as they were usually full of trash.
Sabatier shared that the city may not be ready to unveil the plans for these properties, but there is a budget from cannabis taxes to improve these lots. Sabatier added, “These properties are commercial lots. There needs to be commercial activity in this space between the movie theatre and Safeway, not a giant lot where you see people dumping.” Mark Cooper asked about the neighbors’ concerns of a commercial building coming in, to which Sabatier responded that anything would be a better sight than what it is now. Sabatier noted that in 2019 one out of four properties in the city of Clearlake were in tax default.
Discussion followed regarding the city’s sewage system. Sabatier mentioned how the smell coming from the sanitation center lift station could be very unsettling. So much so, that he said he was actually embarrassed when entertaining someone from out of county. In order to find a solution, officials began investigating from the ground up, finding that the system could not handle the capacity it was expected to deal with.
This was a major issue in the construction of the 192-unit Konocti Gardens income based apartments. When construction was completed, the building sat vacant temporarily as the sewage system could not handle the capacity of its tenants. After fighting for a solution for over two years Sabatier said, “The director resigned, which was probably my fault from too much badgering. The new director told us these lift stations permits had expired. We couldn’t handle the sewage. We worked out a plan (where) we would have to expand to be able to hold more capacity.” As of November 2024, the smell issue has been mitigated at least 99 percent of the time.
The algae issues of Clear Lake were a prime subject for discussion. Sabatier said he was excited to share the news of being awarded $981,407 to treat the algae in Clear Lake. According to Sabatier these funds will help them better understand how the algae accumulates. He said, “These are not Roombas on the lake. They will help, but again there is 500,000 to two million years of sediment load in the lake. It’s going to take years to see any improvement.” In total, the project consists of 14 buoys, LG sonic systems that will clean the algae using solar power. Resident Joan Mingori asked how the rain effects the algae blooms as she has noticed they are worse in the rain. Sabatier said officials are still learning the exact causes of the blooms, but they do know that it rises from the bottom of the lake.
Other updates include the organization of a Townhall meeting in order to reduce fire risk in the Clearlake area, which is in the planning phase. Sabatier also shared that city officials are working on creating a monthly news show that could be broadcast and recorded for the public to watch on YouTube or local cable TV.
In conclusion, Sabatier noted the complicated situation that city leaders find themselves in at the current moment. Sabatier stated “Our job right now is to keep up with the federal government.” He continued ” What we think we know today will be changed tomorrow.” Despite the plans that have been put in place, the supervisors are in reactive mode, waiting for more changes to come down from the White House.
