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UPPER LAKE – Caltrans is negotiating with landowners along Highway 20 to purchase parcels the agency said it needs to complete a safety project to widen the highway, and it's possible that eminent domain could be used in the process.
Phil Frisbie Jr., Caltrans' spokesman for its operations in Lake and Mendocino counties, said Caltrans is planning a $9.4 million safety project to widen the two-lane highway, provide 8-foot shoulders, and upgrade culverts and public road approaches.
The project, which runs between Upper Lake and Nice, originally was scheduled to be constructed next summer, but had moved ahead rapidly enough that Caltrans expected to start work this summer, said Frisbie.
However, Caltrans originally needed to acquire 46 property parcels along the road's right-of-way to have the area needed to complete the improvements, said Frisbie.
Negotiations have put the project back on a 2008 construction schedule. “We are still hoping to have this go out to bid spring of 2008,” said Frisbie.
Now, they're down to three parcels and three landowners, Frisbie explained. “We hope that we will still be able to settle directly with them.”
However, the agency is preparing to file eminent domain proceedings should they be unable to resolve the negotiations, said Frisbie.
“The courts have not been involved at this point,” said Frisbie. “We are just proceeding with the paperwork.”
Because of the nature of the negotiations, Caltrans would not release the names of the property owners in question.
Supervisor Denise Rushing said she was called by two of those property owners who were concerned about how much of their property Caltrans intended to take.
One landowner, an older man, is losing a significant portion of his land, which is covered by heritage oak trees and located along a blind curve that Caltrans wants to eliminate, Rushing explained.
Rushing said she has spoken with Caltrans and they're negotiating with the man in order to settle the matter without resorting to eminent domain.
A woman who was set to lose a larger portion of her land also contacted Rushing and Assemblywoman Patty Berg's office, who sent a representative to sit in on the negotiations, Rushing said.
In the case of both property owners, said Rushing, “They felt the Caltrans offer was inadequate.”
The property owners also were concerned about the process being used to take their property, said Rushing.
Frisbie said Caltrans would rather settle amicably with the property owners, but will move forward with eminent domain if necessary.
“We are still fully working with the landowners, still hoping for a quick resolution,” he said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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MIDDLETOWN – A motorcyclist who may have been drinking received major injuries in collision Friday evening.
The California Highway Patrol's incident logs reported that a solo motorcycle collision took place at about 6:30 p.m. at 20700 Jerusalem Grade Road at Canyon Road near Middletown.
The rider, who witnesses said had “a lot to drink,” was flown to a Sonoma County hospital, but the CHP did not specify which hospital in particular.
Because of the extent of the rider's injuries, CHP was unable to get a statement. They did report that the subject may have possible bleeding on the left side of the brain.
A blood sample was ordered from the motorcyclist due to concerns about driving under the influence.
No further information about the crash or the rider's condition was available Friday night.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LAKE COUNTY – As the wave of home foreclosures continues to climb across the state and the nation, new numbers suggest a steady increase of foreclosures also is occurring here in Lake County.
A report from DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla, a company that tracks foreclosure rates statewide, found that lenders sent California homeowners the highest number of mortgage default notices in over a decade in this year's second quarter.
Those high default numbers are the result of flat or falling prices, anemic sales and a market struggling with the excesses of the 2004-2005 home buying frenzy, according to DataQuick.
Lenders filed 53,943 Notices of Default (NoDs) during the April-through-June period, DataQuick reported, up 15.4 percent from 46,760 for the previous quarter, and up 158 percent from 20,909 for second-quarter 2006.
The second quarter's default level was the highest since 54,045 NoDs were recorded statewide in fourth-quarter 1996, according to DataQuick. Defaults peaked in first-quarter 1996 at 61,541. A low of 12,417 was reached in third-quarter 2004.
Trustees Deeds recorded, or the actual loss of a home to foreclosure, totaled 17,408 during the second quarter, the highest number in DataQuick’s statistics, which go back to 1988. That was up 57.8 percent from 11,032 for the previous quarter, and up 799.2 percent from 1,936 for last year’s second quarter.
The prior peak of foreclosure sales was 15,418 in third-quarter 1996, the low was 637 in the second quarter of 2005, according to DataQuick.
DataQuick reported that most of the loans that went into default last quarter were originated between July 2005 and August 2006. The median age was 16 months. Loan originations peaked in August 2005. The use of adjustable-rate mortgages for primary purchase home loans peaked at 77.8 percent in May 2005 and has since fallen.
On primary mortgages statewide, homeowners were a median five months behind on their payments when the lender started the default process. The borrowers owed a median $11,126 on a median $342,000 mortgage.
On Notices of Default, the county with the highest percentage increase statewide was Yuba with a 280-percent increase; the lowest was Kings with a 50-percent rise.
For trustee deeds, the high number belonged to Yolo County, which skyrocketed 10,200 percent. Santa Cruz's trustee deeds climbed 253.8 percent in comparison, the lowest number reported in the state.
Lake County's foreclosure rates below state average
DataQuick spokesman Andrew LePage said Lake County's numbers are higher than recent years, but they're still below the staggering state average. And the most recent numbers also indicate a slight dip from the previous quarter.
In the first quarter of 2006, there were 51 Notices of Default in Lake County, said LePage. A year later, 97 Notices of Default were recorded in the first quarter of 2007, a 90.2-percent increase, LePage said.
In 2006's second quarter, there were 58 Notices of Default, compared to 2007's 109, an 87.9-percent increase over the year to date but down 3 percent from the first quarter of the year, said LePage.
As for trustee deeds, where the foreclosure process is completed and a home is taken away, there were seven in the first quarter of 2006 versus 31 in 2007's first quarter, LePage said, a 342.9-percent increase.
In the second quarter of 2006, there were 11 trustee deeds; in second quarter 2007, there were 48, a 336.4-percent jump but, again, down slightly – about 6 percent – from the previous quarter.
Neighboring counties recorded the following numbers for the second quarter, with percent increases indicating the rise from the same quarter the previous year:
Notices of default – Sonoma, 462, 128.7 percent increase; Napa, 128, 172.3 percent increase; Yolo, 232, 201.3 percent increase.
Recorded Trustee Deeds – Sonoma, 163, 805.6 percent increase; Napa, 34, 1033.3 percent increase; Yolo, 103, 10,200 percent increase.
“The key thing to watch is if things will level out in the next few quarters,” said LaPage.
If it doesn't level off, it means the problems are deeper than just peak lending activity to late summer 2005, he added.
Recent foreclosure activity “probably has more to with bad lending and borrowing decisions,” said LePage.
Many of the lending practices pointed to as likely causes for the climbing foreclosure rates – teaser and adjustable rates, and interest-only loans – were not new, LePage said.
If here was anything that was new, said LePage, it was how widely those loans were used.
Home sales don't appear heavily influenced
Thomas Pelandini, the Lake County Association of Realtors president for 2007 and operations manager for CPS Country Air Properties, said the local real estate market is fluctuating, but those changes don't appear linked with foreclosure activity.
The California Association of Realtors' most recent report on home sales stated that sales in June decreased by 24.7 percent compared with June 2006 while, at the same time, the median price of existing homes increased 3.2 percent. The association reports that the focus on foreclosures is causing some homebuyers to take a “wait-and-see” attitude, while homes priced to sell continue to move.
The same is true in Lake County, said Pelandini. “Pricing seems to be the critical element.”
Looking at residential statistics countywide from January through July of 2006, Pelandini said there were 550 listings sold with a median price of $299,000.
During the same period this year, the number of listings sold was 472, a 10-percent decrease, said Pelandini. The median price for the homes sold was $275,000, a 9-percent drop, he said.
“It seems to be fluctuating month to month,” Pelandini said. “There's no consistent upward trend or downward trend.”
The market is expected to enjoy a rebound in 2008 and 2009, Pelandini said.
Historically Lake County hasn't had a major foreclosures problem, said Pelandini.
As for current activity, “There are foreclosures here, and most agents have done a pretty quick cram course on short sales,” he said.
In recent years, with an influx of homebuyers coming to the county to look for second or retirement residences, the buyers tend to have higher incomes and more secure financial footings, which help avert foreclosure activities, Pelandini explained.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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SACRAMENTO – The return of West Nile virus to California this year is renewing calls for horse owners to make sure their animals are vaccinated.
So far in 2007, five horses have been diagnosed with the disease – all have been either unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated.
None of those equine cases were found in Lake County. However, two were in Sonoma, two in Kern and one in Sacramento County.
“Outbreaks of West Nile virus are still a risk for horses,” said California State Veterinarian Dr. Richard Breitmeyer. “Horse owners should contact their veterinarians as soon as possible to ensure vaccination status is current. If people get the necessary shots for their horses now, the animals will have optimal protection against the disease.”
Signs of West Nile virus include stumbling, staggering, wobbling, weakness, muscle twitching and inability to stand.
Horses contract the disease from carrier mosquitoes and are not contagious to other horses or people. Not every horse exposed to the virus will die.
California's Department of Food & Agriculture is collaborating with state, federal and local agencies to detect and respond to the disease in California.
For more information, click on www.cdfa.ca.gov. Questions may be e-mailed to CDFA at
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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED, WITH THE DATE FOR THE NEXT ORDINANCE READING CORRECTED.
LAKEPORT – The City Council voted to forward an ordinance changing the city's right-of-way rules to a public hearing on Aug. 21.
City Engineer Scott Harter presented four possible resolutions to the council, meant to address how improvements on a property parcel trigger expensive – sometimes exorbitant – right-of-way improvement costs, including curb, gutter and sidewalk installation.
John Magee and wife Jennifer Fox brought the issue of unreasonably high right-of-way costs to the council's attention at its Feb. 6 meeting.
The couple wants to renovate their 100-year-old, 1,000-square-foot home on Ninth Street. Homes next to them don't have curb and gutter for most part, they said.
Their property includes four frontages – almost an entire block, Harter stated at the time – which could end up costing them more than their property is worth, which they estimate is about $350,000.
Even if the city deferred the right-of-way improvements until later, Magee said he and Fox couldn't pay them.
City Community Development Director Richard Knoll at the February called Fox and Magee's situation "the classic example of how our right-of-way ordinance doesn't work very well in some cases."
It was then that Knoll suggested rewriting the ordinance.
He also had suggested adding a "hardship waiver." The versions of the ordinance Harter took to the council Tuesday included a stipulation that the city manager can defer right-of-way improvements if they cause an undue hardship, but the ordinance does not state whether or not the deferral would have a time limit or would be permanent.
All of the sample ordinances suggested raising the valuation threshold that triggers right-of-way improvements from $26,000 to $45,000 over a three-year period.
Harter said, based on that value, it would allow a homeowner to add the equivalent of about 400 square feet to their home, a reasonable amount of property improvements before a property owner incurred the burden of right-of-way improvements.
The new $45,000 valuation and the three-year period would allow homeowners to stage their improvements over time, Harter explained.
Two of the sample resolutions included staff recommendations on specific exemptions for improvements made to increase energy conservation (energy efficient windows, solar, high efficiency heating and cooling, as examples); improvements to accommodate accessibility needs of the owner/occupant; and improvements meant to elevate the home within a floodplain to meet current standards.
Councilman Jim Irwin wanted a mechanism included in the ordinance that would prioritize fixing sidewalks on Main Street rather than in "isolated" areas of the city. It's also along Main Street that Irwin's father is developing his Victorian Village townhouse subdivision.
Harter said he and City Attorney Steve Brookes discussed it and decided that policy could increase the city's financial burdens.
Brookes explained after the meeting that if the city had a property owner's right-of-way obligation in another part of town go toward Main Street, the city itself would be obligated to make right-of-way improvements on that property owner's land in exchange.
Irwin questioned the solar/energy efficiency exemption. Councilman Buzz Bruns agreed the exemption should be removed, saying solar is extremely expensive. Mayor Roy Parmentier said more exemptions meant fewer sidewalks in the city.
Irwin also appeared poised to request the removal of the exemption of accessibility improvement projects until Knoll said they have one such project pending now, to add a wheelchair ramp to a woman's home.
In addition, Irwin questioned reducing the five-year valuation period to three.
When Irwin again attempted to broach the idea of right-of-way improvements being added first to Main Street, City Manager Jerry Gillham cautioned Irwin that it wasn't a good idea in the long-term.
"I think we're creating more machinations and more internal legal turmoil than the idea justifies," said Gillham.
Gillham said there aren't many right-of-way improvements that come through the city; Harter reported the number ranges between five and 10 annually.
If it's not a big deal, Irwin asked, then why the ordinance?
Councilman Bob Rumfelt moved to approve a version of the ordinance that kept the length of time for improvements at five years and removed the energy conservation improvements exemption.
The council approved the ordinance's first reading 5-0. It will be scheduled for a public hearing at the council's Sept. 4 meeting, after which it likely will be adopted.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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INDIAN VALLEY – A Dixon man sustained major injuries in a Monday afternoon ATV crash in the Indian Valley area.
The crash occurred just after 2 p.m. Monday, as Lake County previously reported.
California Highway Patrol Officer Adam Garcia reported Tuesday that Tyler Bensen, 22, crashed his ATV and was taken by a private vehicle to the Wilbur Springs Cal Fire station.
Bensen was subsequently flown to UC Davis Medical Center with a broken collar bone.
Garcia said that because Bensen was transported from the accident site, CHP had not been able to locate the scene.
No further information on the collision's cause was available.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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