Lake County outlines $250,000 CalRecycle grant to clean 42 illegal-dumping sites

Lake County community development staff told the Board of Supervisors that a $250,000 CalRecycle grant will fund cleanups at 42 illegal-dumping sites identified during the county’s grant application process.

"We wrote this grant, and it was awarded," said Shannon Walker Smith, deputy administrator, as she summarized the scope of the program. Staff said the grant covers abatement work, a small prevention budget and a public education campaign.

The grant-funded program will run through June 30, 2026, staff said, and the county has divided the work into phases. The first phase targets lots and hills in the Nice area; subsequent phases will proceed clockwise around Clear Lake. County staff estimated the work will average about two to three abatements per month.

The nut of the program is abatement of properties the county has long known about but lacked resources to address. Marcus Beltramo, code enforcement manager, said most target parcels are vacant lots and "the worst of the worst" in remote, hard-to-monitor locations. Code enforcement program supervisor Joey Valdez will devote 25% of his time to the grant activities, with support from code technician Janet Garcia Mora.

Staff described the standard abatement process: owners will be notified, the county will pursue the codified abatement procedures and, if necessary, seek a warrant to enter and clean a property. Because the abatements are grant-funded, staff said any program income recovered through liens would be subject to the grant terms. "There'll be a first lienholder, which will be CalRecycle, and then the county would be a second lienholder," Walker Smith said.

County supervisors and public commenters urged stronger enforcement and prevention measures. Several supervisors said administrative fines have prompted some property owners to act; staff confirmed they have used the county’s data-ticket system to issue administrative fines in recent cases and reported early positive results. "We've had two just before the holiday break that came in and said, 'What can I do about this?'" Walker Smith said.

Staff also said the grant includes a small prevention and education allocation that can pay for barricades, lighting, signage, select cameras, and PSAs explaining legal disposal options. They cautioned the prevention funds are limited and will be applied selectively at sites where the county believes they can be effective. "As we're assessing each location, we're going location by location specifically to really think about what makes sense in a specific area," Beltramo said.

Board members and residents proposed additional prevention ideas, including locking vehicle access gates where feasible, placing temporary debris boxes in remote locations, organizing more free dump days, and testing license-plate readers or combined camera systems at habitual dumping sites such as Pyle Road and Sulfur Bank Road. Staff said the county is open to pilot projects but emphasized technical, legal and cost constraints, including vandalism of cameras reported at Pyle Road.

The county also described enforcement steps beyond administrative fines. Staff said they search dumped materials for identifying information and will pursue property owners when evidence allows. Walker Smith said the county has begun referring applicable environmental cases to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and is working to build a prosecutorial package for the district attorney where appropriate. "We have two [CDFW referrals] right now," she said, but declined to discuss details because investigations are ongoing.

Community members and an ad hoc neighborhood group said local mapping of problem sites helped the county identify many of the 42 locations. Dave Hendrick, who helped map roughly 70 problem spots in the Clear Lake Gardens area, told the board his maps were used in the grant submission. Staff confirmed that community-provided site data formed part of the grant application.

County staff said they will bring a draft illegal-dumping ordinance to the board at a future date to provide a clearer enforcement mechanism for identifying dumpers and, when appropriate, seizing vehicles used in dumping. "We're committed to bringing to the board at a future date an illegal dumping ordinance," Walker Smith said.

The presentation closed with staff and several supervisors urging collaboration with neighboring jurisdictions, the water board for water-quality issues, CalRecycle, and community groups on prevention and cleanup planning. Staff said some funding in the grant can be used for free dump days and other community outreach, but added that the grant amount limits how many prevention measures can be implemented countywide.

Ending: The CalRecycle grant gives Lake County a time-limited resource to abate longstanding illegal-dumping sites and to pilot a small set of prevention and education measures. County staff and community volunteers laid out immediate cleanup plans and asked the board for future direction on an ordinance, targeted prevention pilots, and expanded partnerships with state agencies and neighborhood groups.