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March 2009
California Oak Report
"The [Ridge at Trinitas project] applicant has acted in a fashion that appears intended to make fools out of Calaveras County authorities. He has acted as if he believes he is above the law...Under no circumstance should the recalcitrant applicant be rewarded for so much illegal, unauthorized, and non-permitted alteration of the environment." (Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center EIR comments)
Calamity County Showdown
The fate of the infamous Ridge at Trinitas project will soon be decided by the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors. Trinitas is a 6,800-yard PGA tournament quality golf course built between 2001-2005 without any plans or drawings being filed in the public domain, no permits and initially zero environmental review. Construction of the golf course directly impacted over 100 acres of oak woodlands. Trinitas now seeks to add 14 exclusive home sites, 18,000 sq. ft. clubhouse, 30-unit lodge with spa/overnight accommodations and over 5 acres of parking lots.
In December 2005 Calaveras County issued a notice of preparation for a Trinitas draft EIR that unbelievably declared the illegally built golf course was part of the existing condition baseline for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review. After a huge public outcry, in November 2007 the Board of Supervisors ordered that a revised EIR be prepared setting pre-golf course conditions as the baseline for environmental impacts analysis. Below are COF’s remarks to the Board of Supervisors regarding the Trinitas final EIR. Those wondering how the greatest planning blunder in CEQA history occurred can visit the Keep It Rural, Calaveras web site for the twisted tale of Trinitas.
March 23, 2009
Calaveras County
Board of Supervisors
891 Mountain Ranch Road
San Andreas, CA 95249-9709
Re: The Ridge at Trinitas FEIR
Honorable Supervisors:
The California Oak Foundation (COF) writes with comments regarding The Ridge at Trinitas final EIR (FEIR). COF incorporates into this communication our Trinitas letters to the Planning Department dated August 28, 2008 and Planning Commission dated February 12 and 18, 2009. COF also joins in concerns expressed by the Sierra Club, Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, Endangered Habitats League and Keep It Rural, Calaveras.
"The County, acting as the CEQA lead agency, initially determined that the existing golf course would be considered part of the baseline conditions, consistent with CEQA Guidelines §15125(a), which states that the environmental setting for a project will normally constitute the baseline physical conditions by which a Lead Agency determines whether an impact is significant." (2.9.09 Staff Report, p. 18)
The operative word in the above passage is "normally," which is the antithesis of Trinitas circumstances. It serves no purpose for Calaveras County to quote CEQA chapter and verse because this upside down CEQA process can never be brought into conformance with the law. Unfortunately, since initiation of Trinitas’ EIR process the Planning Department has robotically construed CEQA solely in furtherance of the project objective - establishment of an unlawful commercial golf course and amenities. Furthermore, the FEIR does not comply with its own stated purpose and the Board of Supervisors order to "analyze the project site with a pre-golf course baseline." These department actions have not been representative of an objective review.
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Although the County denies any duplicity in the unauthorized construction of the applicant’s "organically grown" commercial golf course, the Planning Department now proposes engendering that commerciality by recommending a large club house, parking lots and allowing dozens of major money-making events per year. This Solomonesque FEIR alternative proposal continues a pattern of irrational and erratic application of various regulations by Planning. The Wallace Lake Estates, Tuscany Hills and Sawmill Lake projects provide examples of Trinitas inconsistencies:
In November 2007 Planning Director Robert Sellman publicly stated to the Board of Supervisors that the specific number of Trinitas oak trees impacted could not be discerned from aerial photographs. On February 9, 2009 the project lead planner told the Stockton Record that Calaveras County "lacked the expertise" to analyze the state of the environment before golf course construction. Yet, that same day the Staff Report asserted Planning had the professional capability to distinguish from aerial photos the exact number of oaks impacted by the project. Contradictory statements aside, when did the Planning Department attain this new forestry skill set?
In January 2009 Community Development Agency Director John Taylor recommended denial of the Wallace Lake Estates mitigated negative declaration and the project. This advice was based on the applicant being unable over an extended period to reach agreement with the US Fish and Wildlife Service regarding mitigation for wildlife habitat impacts. Then, in February 2009 the Planning Department declared that postponing finalization of USFWS mitigation measures is permissible and it’s now incumbent on state/federal wildlife agencies to accommodate the Trinitas applicants in future permitting negotiations. Why was Trinitas the recipient of a different CEQA interpretation than Wallace Lake?
The approved Tuscany Hills and proposed Sawmill Lake projects were appropriately required to use the services of a state registered professional forester (RPF) to characterize and inventory oak woodlands. Indeed, Calaveras County recently changed its CEQA specifications regarding the proposed 57-acre Criminal Justice Center project to require work by an RPF rather than a licensed arborist. For the complex Trinitas forest analysis unqualified Quad Knopf biologists performed these analytic duties. Why did Trinitas receive singular CEQA dispensation?
COF contend that: (1) the expertise of an RPF was required for CEQA review given Trinitas forest analysis circumstances; (2) the unlicensed practice of forestry occurred in violation of both the Professional Foresters Law and CEQA requirement that an RPF accredited by the California Climate Action Registry analyze carbon biological emissions associated with the conversion of native forest to non-forest use; (3) the lack of qualified expertise resulted in a fraudulent and illicit Trinitas FEIR oak woodlands analysis.
Summary
For the Board of Supervisors to adopt the FEIR in any form would render Calaveras County culpable in the very Trinitas actions for which the County claims no liability. Additionally, the consensus opinion of County consultants, Community Development Agency, three independent law firms and conversant public is that the General Plan is flawed. The combination of a defective General Plan and deficient Trinitas FEIR represents a perfect planning storm. Conspicuously, Calaveras County experienced notorious legal difficulties with an internally inconsistent and inadequately correlated General Plan in 1985. The fact that a 6,800-yard PGA tournament quality golf course currently exists on land zoned Agricultural Preserve profoundly exhibits the incoherent character of the present General Plan.
Due to the gross failure of The Ridge at Trinitas project to proceed as required by law, California Oak Foundation urges the Board of Supervisors to reject the FEIR as insufficient and to deny the project. This is the alternative that truly provides the greatest good for the greatest number of Calaveras County citizens.
Sincerely,
Janet S. Cobb, President
California Oak Foundation
Announcements
Link to a site that includes two new video's produced on Gypsy Moths.
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/PHPPS/videos/index.html
Merchandise
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