Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011 • Gas Light Deli sale stalls at planning commission

Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011, edition. Of the Lassen County Times.

A possible sale of the Gas Light Deli in Herlong has run aground at the Lassen County Planning Commission, the Lassen County Board of Supervisors learned at its Tuesday, Sept. 20 meeting.

A proposal before the county to sell or transfer the Gas Light Deli (also known as the C-Mart Building) in Herlong to Tom Hammond and Mark Nareau has failed to move forward at the last two Lassen County Planning Commission meetings.

Lassen County Counsel Rick Crabtree said the matter came before the planning commission in its last two meetings. At the first meeting the commission did not have a quorum and could not take any action. At the second meeting the vote to move the matter forward to the board of supervisors tied at 2-2.

Hammond and Nareau have offered to purchase the building from the Lassen County Board of Supervisors, convened as the Local Reuse Authority.

As a legal requirement, the board must give the planning commission 40 days to make a recommendation before it can take action independently.

Crabtree said he would attend the next planning commission meeting to give them some legal guidance and help move the matter forward. He said if the planning commission did not act, the board would then be able to make a decision.

The planning commission plans to take the matter up again Wednesday, Oct. 5.

The item may appear on the supervisors’ agenda Tuesday, Oct.  18, Crabtree said, and the board could take action. He also said he has heard more than one party has expressed an interest in purchasing the property.

There is a vacancy on the planning commission, and Jim Chapman, District 1 supervisor and board chairman, asked District 1 Supervisor Bob Pyle if the vacancy could be filled.

Pyle said there was some interest, but no one had stepped forward yet to seek the appointment.

District 3 Supervisor Larry Wosick said he did not attend the planning commission meeting, but his district’s commissioner reported to him that, “There was some discussion about the amount of money that will change hands for the purchase of the deli, which to me is completely irrelevant.”

The planning commission is charged with deciding whether the sale is in compliance with the county’s general plan — not the purchase price.

In August, the board of supervisors forgave $18,500 in past due rent after Hammond told the board he had made an agreement with the county to make improvements to the building in lieu of rent and pay only $12 per year rent.

“It seems to me some commissioners are totally off track or just creating an unnecessary hindrance for this process to play out,” Wosick said.

George Robson, the Local Reuse Authority manager, said he could shed some light on the discussion because he did attend the last planning commission meeting.

“Two commissioners objected to the consideration of even the consistency findings based upon the beginning of a process they weren’t particularly in favor of or against at that particular point in time because they didn’t feel they had enough information about the potential transfer down the road,” Robson said. “There was a great deal of information discussed, fairly well outside the purview of the consistency finding issue on the agenda.”

The commission’s director did discuss the legal requirements of the matter before the commission, Robson said. He said he also talked to the commission about the disposal of other LRA properties in Herlong.