Equestrian center, resort planned for Cloverdale mill site

An upscale hotel and residential project proposed more than a dozen years ago in Cloverdale is showing signs of life with a new developer and a revised plan featuring an equestrian center instead of a golf course. But the high-flying concept could be grounded by the proximity to the Cloverdale Airport.

The $200 million Alexander Valley Resort project calls for a 150-room hotel and spa, 40 “courtyard-style” resort rentals and 80 custom, single-family homes, as well as an equestrian center featuring training and show arenas, boarding stables and riding trails winding through the property.

But the plans for the resort may never get off the ground because of a conflict with nearby air traffic.

San Francisco-based Laulima Development LLC, which is pursuing a purchase of the 254-acre site, is asking the city to close down the general aviation airport to the south for the project to go forward.

“The airport poses both a safety and a noise issue,” Jes Slavik, a principal with Laulima Development, said Monday.

He said the airport operation will disturb horses as well as residents and guests.

“The equestrian center would be at the end of the runway,” he said. “A conflict between a low-flying plane and a horse is definitely an issue.”

City officials on Monday said they are not sure whether closing down the airport is viable in exchange for construction of the hotel resort, which is being touted as an economic boost that will generate $1 million in bed taxes annually and employ 200 people.

“I’m a proponent of the airport. I have my doubts,” said Mayor Bob Cox. “A whole lot of this needs to be delved into.”

“I’m interested in seeing how people react,” said City Manager Paul Cayler, who like the mayor plans to attend Tuesday’s public informational meeting at 10 a.m. at the Clover Theater, where developers will unveil their latest plans.

Noise generated by airplanes - particularly from a skydiving operation headquartered at the airport - has been a source of complaints off and on the past couple of years.

Cayler noted that there is a “fairly vocal” group of airport opponents, but there is another constituency in favor of the airport.

“The city’s position will be, ‘We need to hear what public opinion is on the airport,’ ” he said, adding that “closing a general aviation airport is not something that’s done very often.”

But Slavik, like other airport critics, noted that it operates in the red and is subsidized to the tune of $35,000 to $50,000 annually by the city’s stretched general fund.

“It’s important the people of Cloverdale know the airport is a financial burden on the city. It loses money and has been doing so for a number of years,” he said. “It doesn’t have a very good future. It’s subsidizing another dying business - general aviation. There are fewer and fewer pilots every year.”

Supporters of the airport say it’s an important base for fighting fires, but Slavik said helicopters could continue to land there in fire season, or for emergency medical flights.

He and his partners are proposing the airport be “re-purposed” and turned into a venue for needed sports facilities, such as soccer and baseball fields, a dog park and possibly bocce ball and pickleball courts.

“We would help them turn it into a sports park,” he said, explaining that there may be funding from county and other government sources to transform the site into a recreational venue.

Slavik and his partners say the equestrian center could be home to competitive horse events like dressage, steeplechase and rodeos.

He said an internal market study by a company that helps develop equestrian facilities around the state supports the concept of an equestrian center in Cloverdale.

Mayor Cox isn’t convinced.

“I know Oakmont has horses and polo and Santa Rosa has horse people. I don’t know if it’s a fit for Cloverdale,” he said.

Cox said the developers presented the latest resort plans to him about 10 days ago and other City Council members also saw similar presentations, which were done individually to avoid any violation of open meeting laws.

What everyone appears to agree upon is that a golf course proposal by the previous developer no longer makes sense, because of the amount of water it would consume, as well as a general overbuilding of golf courses that occurred in the last decade or so.

Concord-based developer Tyris Corp., the current owner of the property - which was once occupied by a Louisiana-Pacific logging mill and wood-processing facility - spent years doing an environmental cleanup and securing some preliminary approvals from the city, which annexed the property in 2009.

The previous plan for a hotel, golf course and houses stalled along with the economic downturn.

Slavik said his company is developing a similar equestrian resort near Seaside in Monterey County on the site of the old Fort Ord Army base. He and his partner David Bouquillon also helped develop mixed-use projects such as Santana Row in San Jose and Bay Street in Emeryville, he said.

Slavik said they have “high net-worth people” prepared to finance Alexander Valley Resort, but declined to be more specific.

Cloverdale real estate agent Ron Pavelka, who is working with the developers, said the 80 homes would sell for more than $1 million each - a growing segment of the Cloverdale-area housing market, especially for Bay Area buyers seeking a second home in Wine Country.

“This is a serious developer with some serious cash to turn it into a world-class destination,” he said.

But the $200 million “is a lot of investment in a town this size. I can’t see it penciling,” said Mayor Cox. “I’ll wait and see. My mind is open. I’m willing to listen.”

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter@clarkmas