Lake County board hears comprehensive Housing Action and Implementation Plan; staff told to return with edits

Lisa Judd, deputy county administrative officer for housing, and consultants with PlaceWorks presented the Lake County Housing Action and Implementation Plan, or HAPE, during the board’s July 29 special meeting, laying out a multi‑jurisdiction planning tool that covers housing goals, strategies and a sites inventory intended to guide county and city housing actions for the next decade.

"We are very excited to be here today, to present our housing action and implementation plan, HAPE," said Lisa Judd, summarizing the plan’s scope and the yearlong outreach that produced it. Amy Sintzimer of PlaceWorks told the board the plan covers unincorporated Lake County and the cities of Lakeport and Clearlake and responds to community feedback, local staff input and state law changes.

The HAPE packages goals and dozens of strategies into a single reference document: increasing accessory dwelling units, expanding homeless and veteran housing options, encouraging infill and ‘‘missing middle’’ development, creating incentives for mixed‑income projects, and maintaining and rehabilitating the existing housing stock. The plan also includes a GIS‑based sites analysis and an online interactive web map that staff demonstrated for the board.

Why it matters: the county’s analysis estimates a need for about 1,590 new housing units through 2037 — roughly 150 units per year on average — and identifies affordability, aging housing stock, wildfire risk and rising insurance costs as key constraints. The HAPE is intended as a living guide to help the county pursue funding, align zoning updates, and coordinate with cities, tribal nations and existing housing providers.

Board members and the public pressed the consultants and staff on several technical and policy points. Supervisor Sabatier and others questioned the underlying household and income projections and asked staff to confirm whether the Department of Finance numbers had been adjusted for inflation. Amy Sintzimer said the team used available specialist data and that the consultant team could confirm specific methodological details.

Supervisor Owen urged a stronger focus on post‑disaster recovery and ‘‘checkerboard’’ vacant parcels left after wildfires, proposing a separate goal for proactive post‑disaster planning that could include a community land trust, a library of pre‑approved house plans and standards for clearing lots so redevelopment is feasible. Director Turner and other staff said some of those measures — such as a plans library and coordination with land trusts — are options the HAPE recommends exploring.

Several supervisors raised program design questions: how ADUs would be regulated and funded, how a landlord‑tenant matching program would operate and whether the county should prioritize workforce‑tied housing only when employers put money into projects. Amy and Lisa said the HAPE lists potential partners, funding sources and an action table that identifies which actions apply to the county and which apply to Lakeport or Clearlake.

City manager Kevin Ingram (City of Lakeport) and other municipal representatives said the plan’s regional approach is useful, but they emphasized the vital role of local economic conditions and the difficulty of competing for state subsidy awards that are oriented to larger, denser urban projects.

Public commenters, including neighborhood and agricultural stakeholders, asked for more outreach and clarifications on items such as agriculturally‑oriented small‑lot development, protection for mobile‑home residents, and limits on short‑term rentals for projects supported with public funds.

Board direction and next steps: supervisors agreed the HAPE should remain a living document and asked staff to make specific edits before bringing it back for adoption. Requests included changing wording about tribal concerns from "known cultural or tribal issues" to "known matters of cultural or tribal importance," removing or revising an appendix map identified as offensive by at least one supervisor, and ensuring stronger language or a new goal to incentivize fire‑ and climate‑resilient building practices. The board directed staff to return the HAPE with the requested revisions and additional outreach; the board also asked that the draft be presented to city councils and other local advisory bodies before final adoption.

Quotes and attribution are drawn from the meeting transcript and from the project presentation. The HAPE documents, appendices and the interactive sites web map (demonstrated by Nicole West of PlaceWorks) remain available through county staff for review.

Ending: Staff said the HAPE is intended as a practical implementation toolkit that the county can update as state law changes and new funding sources become available. The board asked for an updated draft and a consent‑calendar item at the next feasible meeting so the county can begin implementation and pursue funding.