©Lake County Record-Bee and Observer*American, March 28, 2007, used by permission (see also Sierra Club's letter of response)

Special "Progress 2007" insert

Cristallago may break ground by end of 2008
by Tiffany Revelle

When it was originally proposed to the Lake County Board of Supervisors in April of 2006, the weighty Cristallago project met with mixed reviews. Developers Mark Mitchell and Matt Boeger put it through two rounds of changes since then and have come up with a proposal that just may meet the county's high standards.

The high-end golf course, housing subdivision and resort project is plauned for an 856 acre parcel off of Hill Road in North Lakeport. It is moving forward with a reduction to the amount of homes proposed, and an increase in the number of resort units. According to county Community Development Director Rick Coel, the next step is an environmental impact review (EIR), which will cost developers Matt Boeger and Mark Mitchell $230,000 for a county-hired consultant to prepare.

The plan originally proposed a massive 1,000 residences and 200 resort units around a Jack Nicklaus-signature 18-hole golf course. Dist. 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington, in whose district the project would lie, expressed a desire to see a much more resort-oriented plan.

Since then, the project has undergone revisions. it came before the BOS again in September with a proposed 789 residences and 385 resort-type units. Whether or not an onlooker would be able to distinguish between the proposed resort units and the homes remained an issue.

"What we want to see is something clustered and under one roof, like a standard hotel, not something that looks like a residential neighborhood," said Farrington recently, describing what he wants Cristallago's resort units to look like.

What is currently on the table is an application for 650 homes and 325 resort units, for a grand total of 975 units around the signature golf course, said Boeger in a recent interview with the Record-Bee. This, he believes, will meet the county's expectations "with flying colors."

Coel said the resort units "no longer look like residences," according to a conceptual design submitted to county planning staff. The resorts are now a mix of about four or five types of resort units including time-share, condominium and hotel units, said Coel. Some are clustered in small groupings with courtyards, he added.

Boeger explained that his plan for Cristallago has always been to give it the look of an old-world Tuscan village on the hillside. He elaborated that condo units would be tightly clustered into groups of four and eight, with resort units overlooking the eighteenth green.

Olive trees would act as a buffer between residences and the golf course, he added. They would double as a source of olive oil, to be pressed on-site, for residents to consume and sell locally, said Boeger.

Whether or not the latest version of Cristallago will actually satisfy the county, as well as quell the concerns expressed by members of the community, remains to be seen. Boeger said he had met with members of the Lake Group of the Sierra Club to address concerns raised about infrastructure, particularly water.

Farrington said what's putting the brakes on Cristallago is the need for a new water treatment plant in the area where the project is proposed. "In order for any development to come to fruition, we would need to build a new treatment facility," said Farrington recently of the North Lakeport location. "The position in my office and staff is that the developers need to pay for it, not existing ratepayers," added Farrington.

Another obstacle the project faces is Williamson Act, which reserves 400 acres of the project area for agricultural purposes for 10 years after the parcel's previous owner submitted a notice of termination. The land has two and a half years left under the act.

Boeger said his lawyer advised him that entitlements can be obtained within three years of the Williamson Act's expiration on the land.
"By the time we obtain entitlements and design approvals and are ready to go to construction, the property will be essentially rolled out or that," said Boeger.

The development would fit into the county's Economic Development and Marketing Plan, penned in 2002. The plan calls for a multi-use golf course with residential and resort components. Farrington and Coel concurred that the plan was more of a set of guidelines than a hard and fast rulebook.

"Its not the gospel, just guide for us as we grow to give us ideas for economic development for a community primarily weighted toward tourism," said Farrington.

Boeger's economic development outlook estimates the totoal annual direct economic impact of resort guest spending in the county at $46 million annually.

The Lake County Board of Supervisors will most likely vote on Cristallago a year from now.

The County contracted with the Petaluma consulting firm Christopher A. Joseph & Associates in February to prepare the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Cristallago. The process could take 10 to 11 months, beginning when the $230,000 price for the document is paid by the developers through a special county fund. Boeger said that will most likely happen in a couple of weeks.

Once the EIR is prepared the Lake County Planning Commission and the board of supervisors must certify it, then the project application itself will undergo review. After approval, project design that incorporates environmental impact mitigation measures would take about six months, said Boeger. Once complete, that has to go through the county Public Works department.

Boeger said he hopes to break ground on Cristallago in late 2008, or more likely in the spring of 2009.

Addressing concerns expressed by the Sierra Club and members of the comunity, Boeger said he believes the project has progressed quite a bit. "We will continue to include the concerns of (Cristallago's) neighbords as the project moves forward. That's what the EIR process is about -- understanding the concerns and addressing them.