LUCERNE, Calif. — The owner of the Lucerne Hotel is trying to stop the Lucerne Area Town Hall from discussing the plan to sell the historic building so that it can be used for a homeless housing project.
The Lucerne Area Town Hall, or LATH, is set to meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15, at the Lucerne Hotel, located at 3700 Country Club Drive in Lucerne, where LATH regularly meets.
LATH Chair Kurt McKelvey issued the agenda for the meeting Monday evening.
On that agenda, Tom Jordan, tribal administrator of the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, has been invited to speak about the tribe’s plan to purchase the building with a $5.2 million state grant to use it for homeless youth housing.
Jordan is attempting to purchase the building from Andrew Beath of the Malibu-based Earthways Foundation, who purchased the building from the county in 2019 from the county for $2.5 million on behalf of New Paradigm College.
New Paradigm has since shuttered its operations, blaming the pandemic.
Until this week, Jordan has not responded to McKelvey’s request to answer questions about the plan, which is the subject of an in-depth Lake County News story published today.
Other items on the Thursday LATH agenda include Scotts Valley’s plan to partner with the Lake County Office of Education on the plan to run the building as a youth homeless shelter. However, Lake County News uncovered that the Lake County Office of Education knew nothing about the plan or the grant approved by the state to support it.
Also on the agenda is a proposed resolution condemning Jordan’s plan and asking the Lake County Board of Supervisors to intervene to stop the project.
On Tuesday afternoon, an email was sent to the LATH Board and county officials titled “RE: CANCELLATION OF Regular LATH Meeting Agenda for December 15th 2022 at Lucerne Hotel Building/Lucerne Castle.”
The mail was from Mary Jane Blackshear, calling herself “Stewart (sic) of Lucerne Castle.”
Blackshear is reported to be the caretaker hired by Beath to oversee the Lucerne Hotel.
In her email, she informed LATH that it could not meet at the building if members planned to discuss the sale.
Her full email, including misspellings and grammatical errors, is as follows:
“Hi Kurt McKelvey, Chair of LATH, and to all whom it may concern.
“Please be advised that Andrew Beath, owner of the Lucerne Hotel Building, (The Lucerne Castle), is not in support of this “LATH Agenda” set for the LATH meeting on December 15, 2022, on his private property located at 3700 Country Club Drive.
“Andrew Beath was given a copy of this particular LATH Agenda and feels strongly against this agenda as the information regarding Agenda numbers 5., 6. a. and 7., does not reflect all the information concerning this subject matter.
“To hold such a meeting condemning the Scott’s Valley Band of Pomo Tribe efforts, shows a great deal of disrespect towards the Scott’s Valley Band of Pomo Tribe and is unacceptable to Andrew and others.
“Therefore, Andrew Beath is writing a formal letter to Lucerne Town Hall to inform you of the cancellation of this particular meeting at his private property.
“This letter from Andrew is due to be released tomorrow and I will forward it to Kurt McKelvey for him to notify the public that this meeting that was to be held at the Lucerne Hotel Building, (The Lucerne Castle), is cancelled.
“In the appropriate time Tom Jordan will address the community regarding the Scott’s Valley Band of Pomo Tribe possible purchase of the Lucerne Hotel Building, (The Lucerne Castle).
“Thank you for your time.
“Mary Jane Blackshear, Stewart of Lucerne Castle”
McKelvey responded to the email list a short time later to report.
“The meeting is most certainly NOT cancelled. The agenda has already been posted stating the meeting will be held at that location, the same location we’ve been having it for the last year or so… I do not agree with the owners attempt to cancel the meeting.
“This is a grievous violation of the arrangement, that the owner thinks he can dictate what topics are discussed by the Lucerne Area Town Hall.
“It is not appropriate for the owner of the building to dictate what is or is not allowed to be discussed at the town hall, or to attempt to cancel the meeting simply because he doesn’t like what’s on the agenda. This is a massive overreach.
“The meeting is posted for that location, and I will be opening the meeting at 6:00pm.
“Thank you,
“Kurt McKelvey
“Chair - Lucerne Area Town Hall”
Neither District 3 Supervisor EJ Crandell nor County Counsel Anita Grant could be reached Tuesday evening to ask if there was an arrangement for use of the building by the town hall that precluded Beath from controlling the content of the discussion.
Within hours of the email exchange with Blackshear, Jordan, who for weeks has not responded to McKelvey’s requests for information about the homeless youth shelter plan, wrote to ask to be on LATH’s Jan. 19 agenda.
The timing of that request raises the question of when escrow will close, potentially allowing Jordan to take control of the building with little or no community input about his plans. Lake County News has received information suggesting that escrow is due to close before the end of the month.
Blackshear told McKelvey earlier this year that she wanted to turn the 94-year-year-old historic building into a cat rescue.
That was an odd turn of events considering that Beath’s previous caretaker had allowed the building to be infested by feral cats, causing agencies like the Lake County Office of Education to decide not to hold a summertime training event there.
As of press time Tuesday night, the Lucerne Area Town Hall meeting was still scheduled to take place at the Lucerne Hotel Thursday evening.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Lucerne Hotel owner tries to stop discussion of building sale
- Elizabeth Larson