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All burn permits expire on April 30. The burn restriction applies to all areas in Lake County.
The Lake County Air Quality Management District said the annual ban addresses concerns over both fire hazard and air quality.
The burn ban includes all open waste burning, though exemptions are possible for agricultural operations, essential control burns for fire hazard reduction projects, public safety burns, and others.
The annual burn ban was first implemented in 1986 in response to weather conditions that often create extreme fire danger and poor air quality.
Air Pollution Control Officer Doug Gearhart said a managed approach incorporating fire and air agency concerns has been implemented and improved upon for many years.
He said the ban allows a quick fire agency response to all fires observed from May 1 on, as they are all assumed to be uncontrolled fires unless specifically authorized by an exemption permit.
Gearhart said the program is one of the primary reasons Lake County has superior and healthful air quality.
To obtain an exemption permit to burn after May 1st, first contact Air Quality Management at 707-263-7000 to determine need, then contact your local fire agency so that your burn site can be inspected for fire safety.
After the fire agency notifies the air district that the proposed burn site is fire safe then an exemption permit may be obtained from the air district.
Anyone responsible for open burning during the ban without an exemption permit may be subject to citation, fines, and fire agency response costs to extinguish the fire. Burn restrictions will remain in effect until Cal Fire declares an end to fire season.
Cal Fire requires permits in state responsibility area
Cal Fire also announced that beginning May 1 it will require a burn permit for any outdoor open burning in state responsibility areas in the following counties Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Marin, Solano, Yolo and Colusa counties.
Cal Fire burn permits are required every year after May 1 to conduct open burning in the state responsibility area.
The Cal Fire permit is required in addition to an air quality permit and any local fire agency permit. For more information, contact your local Cal Fire station or your local fire department, and the Lake County Air Quality Management District at 707-263-7000.
Cal Fire burn permits are available online. Applicants will access the website, watch the mandatory video which reviews burning requirements and safety tips, fill in the required fields, submit the form, and a dooryard burn permit will be created. The applicant must then print the permit.
Permits are valid for the calendar year in which they are issued and must be reissued annually on or after Jan. 1 of each year.
Contact your local fire department or Cal Fire to determine what permit requirements or burning restrictions apply in your area and always call or check with the Air Quality Management District to confirm burn day status prior to igniting a fire.
For larger burn projects, a different Cal Fire burn permit is required and shall be obtained from Cal Fire. This type of burn permit is not available online and will require a Cal Fire inspection before a permit will be issued. Please call your local Cal Fire station for information on obtaining and setting up an inspection.
Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Chief Shana Jones reminded residents to take precautions while burning outdoors to prevent sparking a wildfire.
A leading cause of wildfires this time of year is from escaped landscape debris burning. Anyone who has an escaped debris burn and was not burning under the proper conditions can be criminally or civilly held responsible.
Ensure that piles from landscape debris are no larger than 4 feet in diameter, have a 10-foot clearance down to bare mineral soil around the burn pile and that a responsible adult is in attendance at all times with a water source and a shovel.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Dr. Gary Pace gave the board his weekly update on the COVID-19 situation in Lake County on Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday, COVID-19 cases in Lake County remained at six, with the last person soon to be released from isolation, Pace said.
Pace instituted a shelter in place order that went into effect on March 19. Last week, Pace loosened some restrictions involving recreation, as Lake County News has reported.
The shelter in place order is due to expire on May 3. Pace told the board that he is planning to extend it for a few weeks, suggesting a new end date of May 17. That will give him a chance to see what the governor and other areas are doing.
Pace said he envisioned the county moving forward with loosening restrictions in two-week blocks, assessing how things develop and then reducing more limitations.
He said large gatherings, church meetings, high school graduations, county fairs and music events “are probably not going to be happening” in the near future as the effort to slow the virus’ spread in Lake County continues.
Pace said Public Health has been trying to increase local testing capability. The main limitation has been in the sampling supply. His department has been working to get supplies through Amazon and other sources.
He said they’ve conducted surveillance testing in nursing homes and Sheriff Brian Martin has done extensive testing at the Lake County Jail. All of those tests have been negative.
A month ago, surge preparation with the hospitals was a large part of the conversation. With few people having gotten sick – which Pace attributed to the stay at home order – “We’re changing the strategy now.”
He said the county had been looking for facilities locally to house patients in case the hospitals filled up. However, that’s no longer a primary need.
Pace said the county’s numbers should be able to be managed through social restrictions. If there is a need for a facility outside of the local hospitals to house patients, patients could be taken to one of the large state-run facilities being set up at places like the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento.
Switching to the matter of further loosening restrictions, Pace recognized, “It’s been a huge lift for everybody over the last six weeks to have to deal with this,” with schools and businesses closing and people not being able to work. “We’re very aware of that.”
Pace said there is a balancing act between loosening restrictions and protecting public health. He said large groups present problems with transmission and have led to explosive rates of infection in some areas.
He said Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay at home order takes precedence over local orders, and local orders can’t be less restrictive.
Pace said northern rural counties have been in conversation with state officials, including the governor, to ask for special consideration.
“They really need to treat us differently than they do Santa Clara or LA. It’s clearly a different situation here. The economies are different, the economic needs are different and the risks to people are different,” Pace said.
Pace said his strategy moving forward will be to loosen restrictions slowly. When cases come up, Public Health quickly moves in, conducts contact tracing and cordons people off to slow the spread through the community.
“The goal is not to stop the spread, not to stop the virus in the community, because that’s an impossible goal. It's really to slow it so it’s manageable, so the hospitals can manage the surge and so that we can protect the vulnerable people in the community,” Pace said.
He also told the board, “I think we should be proud of how the community handled this.”
Gov. Newsom is starting to lay out a framework for how to move forward, Pace said, explaining that the state is in stage one, the preparation stage, which involves getting control of the outbreak, improving testing, contact tracing and isolation management. That will be followed by making sure workers can be safe when getting back to their jobs.
The last stage is getting back to normal with large group activities, “which is probably months away,” said Pace.
He said Public Health is working on a template to help businesses reopen. That document should be on the Public Health website on Wednesday.
Turning to another important issue this time of year, Pace said, “High school graduation is a big question.”
He said he has been talking to the Lake County Office of Education and local school superintendents, who are trying to be really creative in addressing commencement ceremonies.
Pace said that it’s unlikely that they are going to be able to have any kind of graduation ceremonies – even modified ones – for now.
While small groups and drive-ins have been discussed as graduation ceremony alternatives, “The logistics of that are pretty overwhelming,” Pace said.
“Right now I’m recommending that all of the schools work towards a virtual graduation,” Pace said.
He said there may be the possibility of graduation events later in the summer but that there don’t seem to be many good options that are safe.
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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council has approved the sale of five parcels that had been owned by the city’s former redevelopment agency to a developer.
The council took the action at the end of a public hearing held during a special Monday morning meeting.
City Manager Alan Flora said the properties consist of 18 lots – each measuring 50 feet by 100 feet with access to utilities – contained in five parcels located at 15786, 15796, 15806, 15846 and 15847 36th Ave.
He said that with the dissolution of the Clearlake Redevelopment Agency, the city – acting as the successor agency – holds properties that need to be sold, including the former Pearce Field airport and the Austin Resort land. There also are smaller residential properties like the lots proposed for sale.
“While there is a need throughout California and the City of Clearlake for additional quality housing, the market values in Lake County and current costs of construction do not align in a way that makes larger subdivision development economically feasible,” Flora’s written report to the council explained.
He said city staff has been focusing on infill development opportunities. Out of the city’s discussions with interested parties, Alpine Design Build Inc. expressed an interest in building several homes on the infill lots if they could acquire a significant number in one area.
Flora said a real estate professional performed an analysis and determined the lots should be listed as-is for $35,000. They’re in an area with an existing gravel roadway and significant drainage issues.
He said Alpine Design Build responded to the city’s listing with an offer of $18,000 for all of the lots.
Flora said the developer intends to build 18 homes on the parcels, and also is offering to improve the drainage and construct a new paved road from Phillips Avenue to the corner of Eureka at 36th Avenue, at an estimated cost of $79,000.
The company also has contacted other property owners in the vicinity with vacant lots and could expand the project beyond redevelopment properties, Flora’s written report explained.
Flora asked for the council to authorize him to execute the final purchase and sale agreement, which would then be forwarded to the Lake County Redevelopment Agency Oversight Board for final approval.
The oversight board will oversee the distribution of sales proceeds to the taxing entities, which include the city, the county, the fire districts and school districts, Flora said.
He said that he hadn’t done the calculations of what the city would receive, but it will be a small amount.
However, Flora pointed to bigger benefits, noting the parcels have been off the tax rolls for years, and there will be a much larger long-term financial benefit to the city to have 18 new homes developed.
He said the city’s Public Works director and engineer have met with the developer and reviewed the road and drainage plans. “Those improvements would meet the city standard.”
Flora said the final purchase agreement would include a provision that no certificates of occupancy for new homes would be issued until road and drainage improvements are completed and a clause that calls for the property to revert back to the redevelopment successor agency if the road and drainage improvements are not completed in 12 months.
City council members gave their approval for the plan. Flora said Councilman Phil Harris, who was absent, had told him he also was in support.
Councilwoman Joyce Overton asked if the homes were going to be in the moderate-income range. Flora said the homes are expected to be valued at about $250,000 each, adding that the developer is interested in doing other projects in the city.
Vice Mayor Dirk Slooten said that “nothing but good” – including new houses and tax revenues – would come from the plan.
The council approved the sales of the properties 4-0.
Flora’s report said the Lake County Redevelopment Agency Oversight Board has been asked to meet on May 7 to consider the sale agreement.
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NORTH COAST, Calif. – A former Lake County resident was sentenced to state prison on Tuesday for robbing Ukiah’s Subway store.
Dorian Michael Coon, 21, formerly of Willits and Lakeport, was sentenced by Judge Keith Faulder on Tuesday in Mendocino County Superior Court to 84 months in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.
Officials said Coon was convicted by plea on Jan. 3 of two felony counts of robbery in the second degree.
The robbery was committed approximately two weeks before Christmas 2018 inside the Subway sandwich shop in Ukiah.
The defendant also admitted he personally used a dangerous weapon – a pellet gun – in the commission of the robberies.
Because he stands convicted of crimes characterized as “violent” in the state Penal Code, any credits defendant Coon earns in prison towards early release shall be limited to no more than 15 percent of his overall sentence, meaning no more than 18 months.
These convictions also constitute a strike offense for future use, within the meaning of the modified three strikes law.
Ukiah Police officers responded to the Subway at 130 N. Orchard Ave. shortly after 7 p.m. Dec. 12 to a report of shots fired. When they arrived, they found Coon in front of the Ross Dress for Less store with multiple gunshot wounds. He was flown to an out-of-county hospital where he was treated for his injuries.
Officials said eyewitnesses told police that Coon had robbed the Subway with a gun and that during the robbery an armed customer inside of Subway – who had a valid concealed carry weapons permit – shot Coon.
The District Attorney’s Office said that during the followup investigation, investigators learned that Coon used a realistic-looking pellet handgun to commit the crime.
A co-defendant, Alexander Donovan Romero, age 20, of Willits, was convicted in June 2019 of being an accessory to robbery, a felony and placed on 36 months of supervised formal probation.
One term of that probation was that Romero serve 180 days in the county jail, a sentence that he has since completed, the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office reported.
The investigating law enforcement agencies were the Ukiah Police Department and the Mendocino County District Attorney Office’s own investigators.
Assistant District Attorney Dale P. Trigg handled the prosecution of defendant Coon. Robbery victims appeared at the sentencing and spoke about the impacts on their lives.