photo credit: Courtesy Guenoc Valley Project/Lotusland Investment Group
A large resort community is planned for an area east of Middletown.

A state appeals court recently upheld a 2-year-old trial court decision rejecting environmental documents for a proposed housing development in Lake County, east of Middletown. The Guenoc Valley project is a 1,400-home development proposed to spread across 16,000 acres.

The trial court agreed with environmental groups and the state Attorney General's office that emergency evacuation plans for a development of that size, in a fire-prone area, were inadequate. The appeals court concurred.

Commenting on the ruling, Kevin Case, a development partner for the Guenoc Valley Project, told KRCB in an email, “we remain committed to setting the benchmark for best-in-class fire-safe development under the oversight of Lake County," Case wrote.

Since the initial legal setback, developers have been amending plans.

Mireya Turner, Lake County's Community Development Director, explains.

"They negotiated with the adjacent property owner to establish an emergency-only exit road, so that would lessen the impact of traffic in case of evacuation," Turner said.

The Attorney General's office's main objections to earlier plans centered on the Guenoc Valley project having a single road in and out. The new proposal adds a paved, nearly four mile long connection to Grange Road.

Other revisions include shifting 25 homes off of a hilltop and 39 further away from the "wildland-urban interface."

"They took some of the more remote housing and instead moved it in. They also widened their roads too. So there are a number of ways the developer has proposed to meet the concerns," Turner said

Asked if plans now have what they need to sail through the process, Turner responded, "Well, I think sail is a little overly optimistic, but, we have compiled a lot of data, we've been working with the developer to specifically address and meet the decision by the courts. Given that the last time it was approved by the Board of Supervisors, I do anticipate strong support for this project," Turner said.

Turner added that revised environmental documents will likely be released soon to elicit public comments, with a hearing before the Lake County Planning Commission, likely in the spring. That could be followed, possibly within weeks, by a hearing before the Board of Supervisors.