Master Plan for Former CLC Golf Course
No one
cares more about the Clear Lake area than the Board of Directors of the
CLCWA. A recent letter to the editor by
Carole Henning concerning the Clear Lake City Water Authority plan for the
former CLC golf course included incendiary claims and urged people to attend a
“Friends of the OGC” community meeting on Jan. 19th. I attended that meeting which started out
with the announcement that no one would be allowed to make comments other than
members of their group. Some citizens,
as well as myself, who had worked on preparing community input for over six
months last year attempted to correct wrong and misleading information
presented at the meeting and were cut off.
What kind of viable group has a community meeting and does not allow
anyone who actually knows the facts to speak or allow a free exchange of
information?
There was
so much inaccurate and misleading information presented at the meeting and on
their website, I cannot begin to address them in this format. When the CLCWA purchased the property in May
2011 for flood control purposes, we began discussions with other layers of
governments about working together and pooling resources in a partnership to
enhance the flood control design by incorporating multiple uses. We learned that a Master Plan was needed
before any serious discussions could proceed.
The CLCWA conducted a Town Hall meeting early in 2012 to inform the
public of our desire to incorporate nice amenities into the flood control
design. We asked for volunteers to serve
on a Citizen’s Advisory Group to provide input on what the community would like
to see incorporated in the design which could then be used to solicit other
government funding, corporate gifts, foundation grants, etc.
The Citizen
Advisory Group, which included more than 40 volunteers, completed their work
and reported out at a town hall meeting and CLCWA board meeting in
September. The CLCWA and a landscape
architect firm have used this vital community input, as much as possible, to
develop and fine tune the design. This
master plan will be a working document which will allow the CLCWA to begin
discussions with other government and public entities to secure approvals, make
whatever adjustments are required, and begin the process to secure additional
funding for the amenities.
The CLCWA
directors have been working relentlessly for the past eight years to procure
the property in order to improve flood control capability in our streets and
neighborhoods. The ability to accomplish
this and work with residents at the same time to enhance the quality of life in
the area has been well received by the community in previous public meetings.
All
residents are invited to come to the CLCWA Town Hall meeting from 7 to 9 pm on
Thursday, Feb. 21st, in the Parish Life Center at St. Bernadette’s
Catholic Church. The church is located
at the corner of El Dorado and El Camino Real.
The Master Plan will be introduced to the community and I think most
people will be excited to see the long term vision created by the CLCWA and the
Citizen Advisory Group.
John Branch, VP, Board of Directors, CLCWA
