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Lake County staff outline Lake County 2050 land-use and boundary recommendations; board receives report 5-0
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Summary
County staff presented recommendations from Local Area Plan Advisory Committees and the General Plan Advisory Committee on land-use designation changes, community growth boundaries, and planning-area boundaries as part of the Lake County 2050 general-plan update; the board voted 5-0 to receive the update.
County planning staff presented a countywide package of land-use and boundary recommendations from Local Area Plan Advisory Committees (LAPACs) and the General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) as part of the Lake County 2050 general-plan update and asked the Board of Supervisors for direction. After hearing staff and public comment, the board voted unanimously to receive the update.
"The purpose of today's hearing is to update the Board of Supervisors on recommendations from the Local Area Plan Advisory Committee that are specific to land use or mapping changes," said Miriah Turner, Lake County community development director, introducing the presentation and the web-based map viewer used to show parcel-level recommendations.
Staff described land-use designation proposals across the county's eight planning areas. Examples highlighted by staff included: - Cobb Mountain: the former Hoberg's Resort parcels were recommended by the Cobb LAPAC for future housing; Sigler Springs parcels were recommended for a hamlet-style mixed-use neighborhood to permit residential co-located with commercial uses. - Kelseyville: LAPACs recommended higher-density residential near the town's schools to support safe walking routes; one 8-acre agricultural parcel near major roads was recommended for conversion to medium-density residential. - Lakeport: LAPAC recommended reverting the long-stalled Cristo Lago planned-development proposal back to its original rural-lands designation due to slope and lack of infrastructure; a small flatter parcel in Walnut Drive was recommended for medium-density residential to match adjacent parcels. - Lower Lake: several parcels along Morgan Valley Road that already have municipal water and sewer were recommended to change from rural residential (currently requiring roughly 5–10 minimum acres per parcel) to suburban reserve (1–3 minimum acres) to allow future subdivisions. - Lucerne and Shoreline Communities: staff proposed concentrating community commercial along Thirteenth Street while reverting peripheral small parcels back to residential to avoid creating legal nonconforming homes; staff also recommended resource-conservation designations to protect wetlands and rookeries in the Clear Lake Keys. - Scotts Valley/Kelly's Camp: Kelly's Camp, a former KOA with floodplain constraints, was recommended to revert to rural lands because of rebuilding and sale limitations tied to the floodplain.
Staff also outlined two types of boundary changes under consideration: community growth boundary amendments (to indicate areas where future municipal services such as water and sewer could focus) and planning-area boundary adjustments (to move small communities into the local area plan that better reflects their community identity). Examples included adding certain Kelseyville parcels to the community growth boundary where municipal services already exist or were rezoned, and consolidating Scotts Valley entirely into the Lakeport local area plan rather than splitting the community between planning areas.
Turner said staff will notify property owners identified for land-use changes with mailers and that the county plans additional open-house–style meetings for affected owners. She also said the GPAC reviewed LAPAC recommendations in February and issued countywide recommendations that include encouraging mixed-use in community growth boundaries, promoting walkable neighborhoods, preserving agricultural lands used for food production, and seeking policy options to support mixed-use development and remove governmental funding obstacles.
Public comment reflected support for broad participation and concerns about piecemeal loss of agricultural lands. "This is an extraordinary opportunity for Lake County to build the Lake County of our dreams today," said Margo Cambara during public comment, while also urging more filtering or study by GPAC before the board receives many conflicting local recommendations. Several supervisors raised questions about outreach, LAFCO notification for annexation or sphere-of-influence changes, and how climate adaptation and a forthcoming Housing Action and Implementation Plan will inform zoning changes.
Staff told the board that climate adaptation work and a housing action plan remain in progress and will inform later elements of the general-plan update. The presentation noted the general plan was last comprehensively updated in February 2008 and described the LAPAC process this fall, when staff held about 46 LAPAC meetings across eight planning areas in a short timeframe.
After the presentation and public comment, the board took formal action to receive the Lake County 2050 update. The motion to receive the report passed 5-0. No specific ordinances, rezonings or annexations were approved at the meeting; the item was presented for board information and direction ahead of future draft plan documents and formal hearings.
