Page 43 - Sonoma County Gazette July 2018

Guernewood Park Resort Hotel Proposal
On June 4th we met with Kirk Lok, along with his consultant Efren Carrillo, regarding the Guernewood Park Resort hotel proposal. Lok is the owner of the large lot with river access next to Dubrava. The meeting was arranged by Lois Lebovich, the President of the Guernewood Park Neighborhood Association, and was also attended by reps. from Dubrava HOA, the Friends and Residents of Guerneville, the Sheriff’s Dept., and local fire agencies.
Lok has owned the 9+/- acres since the 90’s, which has a public river
access easement, and is currently zoned K; Recreation and Visitor-Serving Commercial District. Over the years there have been unsuccessful attempts
to develop the lot into a four story 120 room luxury hotel, spa, and restaurant. The proposal has again been brought to the table as there is a developer interested in buying the property and developing the resort. Here’s a link to the original Lok proposal which includes proposed elevations thelokgroup.com/ guernewood_200801027.pdf
At our meeting with Lok and Carrillo, many issues were brought up and addressed, with us primarily focusing on affordable workforce housing and mitigating any adverse impacts on the community. We were able to emphasize how important it was to be transparent and concerned with the needs of the community. We learned that the resort would potentially employ approximately 100 workers, and that the developer would have to pay an estimated $500k fee to the County that would be dedicated to affordable housing. We discussed the issue of 100 more workers being needed, the existing shortage of local workers, where they would come from, the need for affordable workforce housing and living wages, and being concerned with the needs of the community.
The process is in the early stages. They are expecting to submit an application for a conditional use permit at the end of this summer, or beginning of next
fall. At some point after that, there is a 90 day period that involves a public comment/hearing process. If it all were to be approved, it would be at least a year more before ground was broken, realistically longer. Various issues can be addressed based on community needs through the use permit process.
I also spoke at length with a representative of the potential developer, Doug Demers, an architect with the Noble House Hotel & Resort group. Demers has local ties to Guerneville, and a seemingly sincere affection for the area and its history. He said he first came here to the area with his wife 19 years ago, and fell in love with it. His wife’s family has been living in the Lower River area since the 1930’s. Demers spoke candidly about his personal understanding of the area, and his interest in treasuring the history of the river. We talked about the fear of gentrification, and its legitimacy for many locals that are at risk of being on the wrong end of it. Demers said Noble House is a “family centered company” with a track record of caring for their employees, their communities, and offering good paying jobs. He said they are already exploring various options to create affordable workforce housing such as acquiring properties
for workers, and possibly developing the latest high end technology for pre- fabricated type housing. He said the developer envisions a resort that embraces the authentic and unique character of the local geography, history, and the community, and they are dedicated to being a positive influence on the Lower River area. Noble House has a long history of operating unique properties per their website at noblehousehotels.com.
We respect the approach that Mr. Lok and Mr. Demers are taking. Mr. Lok has hired Efren Carrillo as a consultant to assist them in navigating the process, part of which was them genuinely seeming interested in working with the community collaboratively to solicit our input as to how this proposal could be the best benefit and have the least adverse impact possible on this community.
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They came and openly listened to our concerns, and we discussed possible solutions, rather than them just trying to keep this as much of a secret as possible to shove it down our throats. They are also going to meet with other local groups to go through a similar process, which I would assume includes the Russian River Chamber of Commerce, other local business owners, and maybe other residential area reps., etc. This was just a first meeting. There will be many more to come. We will try to keep you transparently informed, and solicit input from the community that you would like to be passed on.
Learn more about the Lower River Area Community Alliances, become a volunteer, or if
you have some community concerns or solutions you would like to share, you can “like” our Guerneville Community Alliance and/or Russian River Alliance Facebook pages, or visit our website at www.russianriveralliance.org. Contact Mark Emmett at 707-529-0534 (Guerneville), Jeniffer Wertz at 707-483-7038 (Guerneville), or Chuck Ramsey at 707-239-1639 (Monte Rio).
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