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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County can look forward to much-improved highways thanks to millions of dollars’ worth of repair and improvement projects that are under way.
“We’ve got three major projects around the lake this summer,” said Alan Escarda, Caltrans area construction engineer.
Those three projects are the new roundabout at the junction of Highway 20 and Highway 29 in Upper Lake, the Highway 20 overlay project that stretches from Nice to the “Y” intersection at Highway 20 and Highway 53 east of Clearlake Oaks, and an overlay project in Kelseyville.
Escarda said the three projects, plus two smaller ones not yet in the construction phase, total more than $30 million in highway improvements.
He estimated that close to $10 million in materials – such as asphalt and aggregate – will be purchased locally just on the Highway 20 overlay, with 150 jobs attached to the project.
In addition, workers will be staying at local motels and purchasing services in the county throughout the summer, which Escarda said pencils out to a significant economic impact for Lake County.
Work on the $4 million roundabout project will take place in six phases, Escarda said, with the contractor – Ghilotti Construction – having just started stage three by putting up K-rail around the site.
Traffic currently continues to flow around the K-rail, behind which 75 to 80 percent of the project will be built, Escarda explained.
When that portion of the construction is completed, the K-rail will be removed and then people will be able to drive through the roundabout while the remaining 20 percent of the project is finished, he said.
Escarda estimated that the K-rail should be removed by Labor Day. “That's what we're hoping.”
After that, he said there will still be a few months' worth of work to complete the project.
While some of the early work was done at night, Escarda said going forward much of it will be done during the day.
Possible holdups could occur due to weather conditions. “We’ve been having weird weather and rain,” he said.
Escarda said two other roundabouts also are being considered for Lake County: At the Y intersection near Clearlake Oaks, where there is a two-way stop, with downhill traffic headed westbound or using the turn lane not having to stop; and on Highway 29 at Hartmann Road near Hidden Valley Lake, where there currently is a three-way stop.
“They're in the process where they're looking at alternatives,” Escarda said of Caltrans planners.
So far, however, Escarda added that final decisions haven't been made on those proposed roundabouts.
As for other summer highway work, the biggest single project is the 19-mile-long Highway 20 overlay, which by itself totals nearly $20 million, said Escarda.
In May 2014, the California Transportation Commission allocated a mix of state and federal funds to complete the project, as Lake County News has reported.
Caltrans' contractor, OC Jones, is digging down as much as half a foot in some places – especially around the Lucerne area, where there exists some of the worst pavement along the project area – to repair the roadway surface and put in fresh asphalt. Escarda said they will then put down rubberized chip seal and place over it another layer of asphalt.
“It's going to be vastly improved,” he said.
This week the work on the Highway 20 corridor is taking place from Manzanita Road to the junction of Highway 20 and Highway 53 between 6 and 9 a.m. daily, with 15-minute delays possible, Caltrans reported.
In the early days of the project last month, traffic was backed up through Nice as more than a dozen semis lined the highway to transport materials to the site. There were similar backups earlier this month, again in Nice as well as in Clearlake Oaks and Lucerne.
“We're really happy on the progress,” Escarda said, noting that almost all of the bad concrete has been repaired.
The contractor has dug out portions of the road where the pavement had failed and replaced it with rubberized chip seal. That work was finished on June 11 on the 14 miles of the 19-mile stretch where the chip seal was necessary, he said.
That chip seal won't be the final driving surface, Escarda said. In a couple of weeks, the contractor will pave over that with a “leveling course” – a 1-inch-thick asphalt overlay.
Escarda said that five to six weeks after that, the contract will put down a 2-inch layer of rubber asphalt over the entire 19 miles of the project area.
He said the messiest, loudest part of the work – which has included jackhammering and grinding out pavement – has been completed.
“I'm sure the residents are already getting tired of it,” he said of the work and the accompanying noise, asking the community to “just stick with us” as the work progresses.
The final layer of rubber paving should be down by Labor Day, Escarda said.
He said work has been suspended by Caltrans' contractor along a two-mile stretch from Paradise Cove to Glenhaven, where Lake County Special Districts is putting in a water pipeline.
The $1.75 million water main extension project is necessary to annex the Paradise Cove community into the Clearlake Oaks County Water District, as Lake County News has reported.
Special Districts had to get the work done ahead of the Caltrans project, according to Compliance Manager Jan Coppinger, or else there would have been a seven-year moratorium on digging into the pavement repair work.
Coppinger said the county has hired OC Jones – the contractor working on the Highway 20 overlay for Caltrans – to do the work.
Special Districts confirmed to Lake County News that the pipeline is well under way.
“We decided we’re just going to stop work” in that area, said Escarda, adding that the contractor may be able to complete the work this fall, depending on whether the necessary temperatures for paving are present. If not, he said that portion of paving could be completed next spring.
Beginning on Monday, the $5 million Kelseyville overlay job gets under way, Caltrans reported.
Contracted to Ghilotti Brothers, the work will take place over a 5-mile stretch from just east of Cruickshank Road to just short of the Highway 175 and Highway 29 intersection in Lakeport, Escarda said.
Work on sidewalks and electrical has been done at the intersections in the area ahead of the paving, he said.
Work this week begins with the contractor grinding out and replacing failed asphalt along the entire project corridor. Escarda said the goal is to have that work completed by June 30 or July 1.
Caltrans said work will take place from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., Sunday evening through Friday morning. One-way traffic control will be in effect, and motorist should anticipate 15-minute delays.
Escarda said the contractor will stop work from July 1 through July 6 due to holiday traffic. Once they're back on the job, there will be a week of prep work followed by two weeks of putting down rubberized chip seal.
He said drivers should be aware that work will be taking place at night, with some lane closures that should not create too much impact on motorists.
All of that paving is expected to be done by the end of July, Escarda said.
Escarda said there is the possibility of a fourth project this year – for a $1.2 million new metal beam guardrail along Blue Lakes – that went out to bid last month.
He said four bids were received and a recommendation for a contract award is anticipated. Work would start in early August, to be finished before the winter close to construction.
Escarda said there also is one more project, the $400,000 scour repair at Saint Helena Creek Bridge near Middletown. Scour repair is the removal of sediment buildup around the bridge piers and abutments.
That project is slated to be advertised this summer, which may mean there won’t be time to build it this year, Escarda said.
By the end of this construction season, Escarda said all but about six miles of Lake County's highways will have been repaved as the result of projects over about the last several years.
The only areas not repaved include a five-mile stretch on Highway 175 and about a mile near Cache Creek, he said.
“For a little county like Lake County, we've more than gotten our share of state funds,” Escarda said.
Escarda said some of the funds for the current projects came from the $19 billion transportation bond that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger helped pass in 2006. That $19 billion is now spent.
He said highway work in Lake County had averaged eight projects a year, at a cost of about $22 million annually, from 2007 through 2015.
The Lake County construction office also did an additional $30 million in projects on Highway 20 between Highway 5 and Highway 101 during the same time period, he said.
Thanks to the major projects taking place now, 2015 is proving a big year for highway improvements in Lake County, he said.
“When we're done, you’re going to have some pretty good highway around the whole lake,” Escarda said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Association of Realtors had good news to report for the month of May, as the local real estate market continues its post-recession recovery.
LCAOR reported that the median sales price of single family residences for Lake County moved up from $199,765 in April 2015 to $207,000 in May.
The May 2015 median price was nearly 24 percent above the May 2014 median price, which was $167,295, according to the report.
The first five months of 2015 showed an 18.75-percent gain in median sales price when compared to the first five months of 2014, LCAOR said.
At the same time, LCAOR said the number of units sold for the same time periods was up by 6.74 percent in 2015.
Seventy two units sold in May which was equivalent to the 72 units that sold in April. LCAOR said inventory levels remained close to six months at 6.49 months of inventory.
In May of 2014 the inventory levels were slightly higher at 7.29 months. Six months of inventory is considered “normal” and indicates how long it would take to sell the existing inventory if no new listings were added to the market, the association reported.
“Sales have been good throughout the county,” said LCAOR’s 2015 President Yvette Sloan. “Year to date there has been 60 sales in Hidden Valley Lake, 46 sales in Clearlake, 32 in Lakeport and 30 in Clear Lake Riviera.”
Distressed sales – homes sold after foreclosure or for less than what was owed – continued to decline on a year-to-year basis, LCAOR said.
In May 2015, 13.9 percent of the sales were considered distressed compared to 30.7 percent of the sales in May 2014, LCAOR said. Standard sales, those homes being sold for more than what was owed made up 88.33 percent of the sales.
Cash sales continue to play a significant role in the purchasing of properties with 38.9 percent of the sales being purchased with cash. LCAOR said conventional loans accounted for 28.2 percent of the transactions.
Mortgage rates increased in May, with the 30-year, fixed-mortgage interest rate averaging 3.84 percent, up from 3.67 percent in April but down from 4.19 percent in May 2014, according to Freddie Mac.
Adjustable-mortgage interest rates edged up in May, averaging 2.49 percent, up slightly from 2.46 in April and 2.43 percent in May 2014, the association reported.
NUMBERS AT A GLANCE
Lake County – May 2015
Median price: $207,000
Median days to sell: 67
Units Sold: 72
Lake County – April 2015
Median price: $199,765
Median days to sell: 81
Units Sold: 72
Lake County – May 2014
Median price: $167,295
Median days to sell: 79
Units sold: 62
California – May 2015
Statewide median price: $485,830
Los Angeles Metro Median Price: $440,050
San Francisco Bay Area Median Price: $846,900
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control's shelter remains chockful of cats and kittens needing new homes this summer.
Cats and kittens in all sorts of colors and coat types are waiting for new homes.
In addition to spaying or neutering, cats that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are microchipped before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets there, hoping you'll choose them.
In addition to the animals featured here, all adoptable animals in Lake County can be seen here: http://bit.ly/Z6xHMb .
The following cats at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (other cats pictured on the animal control Web site that are not listed here are still “on hold”).
Domestic longhair mix cat
This domestic longhair mix mama cat has gray tabby coat.
Shelter staff calls her “super sweet.”
She's in cat room kennel No. 10, ID No. 2134.
Domestic short hair mix
This female domestic short hair mix has a coat with calico markings.
She's in cat room kennel No. 12, ID No. 2106.
'Mom'
“Mom” is a pretty domestic short hair mix with calico markings.
She's in cat room kennel No. 27, ID No. 2213.
Domestic medium hair mix kitten
This domestic medium hair mix kitten has a buff-colored coat.
He's in cat room kennel No. 29a, ID No. 2107.
Domestic short hair mix kitten
This domestic short hair mix kitten has a black coat.
He's in cat room kennel No. 29c, ID No. 2109.
Domestic short hair mix kitten
This domestic short hair mix kitten has a black coat.
He's in cat room kennel No. 29d, ID No. 2110.
Domestic short hair mix
This adult domestic short hair mix of undetermined gender has a gray tabby and white coat.
The cat is in cat room kennel No. 31, ID No. 2373.
Female orange tabby
This female orange tabby has a short coat.
She's in cat room kennel No. 35, ID No. 2416.
Orange tabby kitten
This male orange tabby kitten has a short coat.
He's in cat room kennel No. 73a, ID No. 2404.
Domestic short hair mix kitten
This female domestic short hair mix kitten has a gray coat.
She's in cat room kennel No. 73b, ID No. 2030.
Domestic short hair mix kitten
This male domestic short hair mix kitten has a gray tabby coat.
He's in cat room kennel No. 91a, ID No. 2010.
Domestic short hair mix kitten
This male domestic short hair mix kitten has a gray tabby coat.
He's in cat room kennel No. 91b, ID No. 2011.
Domestic short hair mix kitten
This male domestic short hair mix kitten has a gray tabby coat.
She's in cat room kennel No. 91c, ID No. 2012.
Adoptable cats also can be seen at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Cats_and_Kittens.htm or at www.petfinder.com .
Please note: Cats listed at the shelter's Web page that are said to be “on hold” are not yet cleared for adoption.
To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .
Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.
Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .
For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Firefighters are close to getting a wildland fire that began burning on the Lake County side of the Mendocino National Forest on Friday under full control.
The Sanhedrin fire is holding at approximately 25 acres and is estimated to be 80 percent contained, forest spokeswoman Tamara Schmidt said late Sunday afternoon.
Firefighters have made great progress towards containment and it is expected resources will start to be released from the incident on Monday, Schmidt said.
The fire, reported Friday night around 7:30 p.m., is burning on private land within the Mendocino National Forest south of Little Signal Peak and east of the Sanhedrin Wilderness on the Upper Lake Ranger District, Schmidt said.
The fire is burning in heavy fuels – including dead and down trees. Schmidt said that same area burned in 2008.
She said smoke from the fire is visible along Highway 101 and to communities on the west side of the forest.
Schmidt said the fire's cause is under investigation.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Walmart is moving ahead with its plans to remodel and expand its existing Clearlake store – plans which have been on hold over the last several years.
The store, located at 15960 Dam Road, originally was built in 1994. It's one of more than 11,200 stores under 71 banners in 27 countries operated by the retail giant, which reported more than $473 billion in sales in 2014.
The plan for the store remodel and expansion, submitted to the city of Clearlake during a meeting with city officials on Tuesday, calls for adding approximately 38,741 square feet of building area for a total store size of 148,258 square feet.
“Having been a part of the Clearlake community for over 20 years, we are always looking for better ways to serve our customers,” said Clearlake Walmart Store Manager Travis Peck in a written statement. “Remodeling and expanding our current store will allow us to offer our customers greater convenience by providing a one-stop-shopping experience, and create new jobs for the community.”
Walmart said the expansion of its Clearlake store will result in a larger grocery department, with additional food and general merchandise sales floor area, food sales support area, stockroom/receiving area, ancillary space and food tenant space.
The company said the remodeled store also will offer a pickup service that allows customers to order groceries and general merchandise online from Walmart’s Web site and pick up the products at the store.
One of the services the store won't be expanding – and, in fact, is removing – is the Tire and Lube Express section.
The store's exterior also will undergo a complete renovation, including parking lot lighting, signage and shading, the company said.
Altogether, Walmart said the remodeled and expanded store will bring about 85 new store jobs, plus construction jobs, with the company anticipating that additional tax revenue will be generated for the city.
The average wage for regular, full-time hourly associates in California is $13.33 per hour as of April, reported the company, which has two million associates worldwide.
Clearlake City Manager Joan Phillipe confirmed that she and Greg Folsom – the incoming city manager who will succeed her when she retires at the end of this month – met with Walmart representatives on Tuesday about the store expansion plans.
“They did bring with them the application and they left that,” said Phillipe, who hasn't yet had a chance to go through the document.
She said Walmart will be submitting an initial deposit of $220,000 to cover the costs of processing the project, including taking the environmental impact report through the administrative draft stage and covering the time of a contract planner, as the city doesn't have someone on staff with the expertise or time who can oversee such a large project.
“In the end it's not an inexpensive process,” she said.
Phillipe said the project “essentially is a remodel of an existing store,” not a brand new project.
“It's not a super Walmart by any stretch of the imagination,” she said of the proposed expansion size.
The proposed expansion, noted Phillipe, has been “an on-again, off-again project for quite some time” – even before she arrived in late 2011.
The project in a previous incarnation had gotten through the administrative environmental impact report stage before it was put on hold, said Phillipe, noting that Walmart has been undergoing a variety of internal changes regarding its direction.
“I think those things have impacted the project here,” she said. “They have started and stopped several times.”
Phillipe said the company's focus appears to be on updating older stores like Clearlake's.
She said the fact that Walmart is meeting with the city and willing to put down the money on the project indicates to her that they intend to move forward this time.
The expectations of 85 new jobs as a result of the project is an important factor for the city. “One of the city's priority goals is economic development,” said Phillipe. “One of the components of that, of course, is adding jobs into the community.”
A number of local residents and businesses have voiced concerns over Walmart's impact on the community, which Phillipe acknowledged and anticipates will be the case as the project moves forward.
“All of that will be looked at in the processing of the application,” she said.
Regarding the discontinuing of the tire and lube shop, Phillipe noted that the city seems to have a large number of such successful shops already offering those same services.
One of those is Tire Pros, owned by Gene Renner.
Renner said his business is a franchise, so it has buying power equal to Walmart's. However, he said many smaller, independently owned shops in the city have survived and thrived despite the presence of Walmart's tire shop, although other types of businesses have shuttered in competing with the store.
He attributes the success of local shops like his to a few things, including people who want to shop with locally owned business.
“I think quite a few people like to shop locally and don't want to see their money go to Bentonville, Arkansas,” he said.
He's been in the tire business for 23 years, so he watched as Walmart opened up a similar business to his own, but he said, “I'm never concerned about competition coming to town.”
Renner said service is key, so no matter how much competition local businesses have, if they are willing to offer great service, they can survive and thrive.
“People like service more than anything,” he said, noting that he has customers who work at Walmart.
“I don't think they had as a good a service and people like to shop locally,” he said, adding, “Our service is certainly a lot better than Walmart.”
For local businesses, one of the key lessons from Walmart's decision to close its tire and lube shop is, “You can compete with the big guys,” said Renner.
The company said information about the store's progress will be posted at the Walmart Clearlake store’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Walmart1979 .
Email Elizabeth Larson at
“When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'.” – Groucho Marx
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – One of Lake County's most distinctive landmarks is the Lower Lake Stone Jail.
It is listed as California Historical Landmark No. 429, and became such in October 1962.
The jail is located at 16118 Main St., Lower Lake, one-tenth of a mile south of Highways 29 and 53.
To become designated as a California Historical Landmark, a site or structure needs to meet specific criteria associated with California history.
This process began back in 1895 in Los Angeles, when a group of citizens from the Landmarks Club sought to preserve California's Spanish missions.
The Lower Lake Stone Jail – built in 1876 by Stephen Nicolai, who was a stonemason with a local business – garnered materials from a nearby quarry. His construction partners were Theodore and John Copsey.
According to notes from Henry K. Mauldin, Lake County's first official historian, the Copsey brothers, being proud of finishing their hard work on the jail, decided to celebrate their achievement in a local saloon.
Soon they became so boisterous that they were admitted as the jail's very first lodgers!
Then, it dawned on the Copsey brothers that they had forgotten one key element of the jail's construction – that of securing the roof to the structure, hence, they were able to raise the roof and make their escape.
The need for a jail in Lower Lake was felt, even though the town's population was only 1,000 people.
This was when quicksilver, or mercury mining was booming across Lake County. With the advent of the Sulphur Bank Mine, Lake County was gaining in popularity, and drew a great workforce.
After a hard day at the mines, the men would feel the need to blow off steam by patronizing the local saloons, and the rowdiest were thrown in the little clinker.
Since there was no outhouse in the jail, it must have been quite the rustic adventure to find yourself locked up in the Lower Lake Stone Jail.
The plaque on California Historical Landmark No. 429 reads: “This jail, claimed to be the smallest in the United States, was erected in 1876 of stone locally quarried and reinforced with iron. During the stirring days of the first quicksilver operations of the Sulphur Bank Mine, lasting from 1873 to 1883, obvious need for a jail led to its construction.”
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is an educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.
