LAKEPORT >> The Eastern Region Town Hall board informed attendees plans will forge ahead with collaboration on a super MAC with neighbors, Central Region Town Hall and Wester Region Town Hall at the ERTH meeting at the Moose Lodge, Wednesday afternoon.
Holly Harris, board member confirmed they are actively collaborating. “We’re trying to formulate a project we can work on together so, in power, in unity we could get more accomplished here,” Harris said. “Lisa Murray of the WRTH town council put together the survey and received 85 results, of which ERTH comprised nearly 50%. Top priorities community members listed, in order were public safety, code enforcement, negative image of North Shore, the environment, transportation/traffic, social issues, local economy and business and working with local government.”
They are planning to get back together to brainstorm on projects. “We’d like feedback from the public,” Harris said. “What can we get accomplished pretty quickly. Our next meeting will be a larger outreach. Since we created the ERTH website, WRTH decided to create one and we’re helping them.”
Regarding commercial cannabis, Harris reported a substantial project on High Valley Road. It was approved by the Planning Commission yet appealed by local residents. It looks as if the appeal will go before the Planning Commission by the end of October. Lamperti Farms has nine acres on Sulpher Bank Drive and he just put in another project being reviewed, which is for 8.8 acres. Documents and a letter were sent to the Community Development Department and when complete will be uploaded to CEQAnet for public comment and ERTH will inform the public when it goes up.
Lemon Glow cannabis project. Lemon Glow (LG) is seeking a major use permit to obtain 20.9 A‐Type 3 “Outdoor” License and a Type 13 Self‐Transport Distribution License to allow a total of 20.9 acres of commercial cannabis canopy area on High Valley Road.
The project additionally includes seven processing facilities totaling 40,000 square feet. They are also moving forward with a revised document that intended to tear down 500 trees over two feet tall but that has now been revised, and once complete will also be posted to CEQAnet
“We currently have 35 acres of cultivation permits pending in Clearlake Oaks,” said Harris. She also noted the Board of Supervisors’ meeting, in which District 1 Supervisor Helen Owen proposed a moratorium on further cannabis permits. “But it’s not a regular ordinance but an urgency ordinance. Owen will work with County Counsel Lloyd Guintivano to craft the language. “If we can get this passed it’ll allow staff time to complete the ordinance without pressure from new permits,” Harris added.
Shelbi Kvenn, who recently relocated to Clearlake Oaks from Kelseyville, informed ERTH, on behalf of her father-in-law Richard Kvenn, they are going to launch a business, East Lake Storage on the 13000 E. HWY. 20 block next to Lake Point Lodge. It is already zoned for storage facilities and the structure will have a setback of 250 feet from the highway. “I talked to some of the community, there’s catering places that would love having a fresh Farmers Market (to share the space) so, they could provide produce on Saturdays and Sundays,” she said.
BOS Chair E.J. Crandell provided an update on the Potter Valley Project. It includes two dams on the Eel River (Scott Dam and Cape Horn Dam), water diversion facilities, and a powerhouse. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) owns the Potter Valley Project. The project stores winter runoff from the upper Eel River basin and annually diverts an average of 90,000 acre-feet of Eel River water into the Russian River to generate hydroelectric power. Crandell noted the county obtained the services of a study group through the Water Resources Department to provide a more objective point of view than studies distributed through PG&E. “When the dam decommissioning study was initially done, it was always about dam removal. We’ve been asking since day one, let’s do a more objective study of what Potter Valley would look like if the dam stayed,” Crandell said. “When the report comes out, we want them to do the study from an objective standpoint rather than just tailor it to Lake County,” he said.
Since that last decommission study meeting, the county had issues with what PG&E was proposing. “Last time we spoke, we found out the dam wasn’t seismically compromised,” Crandell said. “The threat wasn’t as much as they tried to make it sound, so, that was a big part of PG&E’s argument. There’s still some time before the comments submittal (deadline). I was talking to (Supervisor) Helen Owens about it. When we meet (PG&E) they use the original seismic report. They try to marginalize arguments for retaining the dam, and when you are not there, they say you just don’t care enough.”
