At its Sept. 6 meeting the board upheld John Nady's appeal of a May 2010 Lake County Planning Commission vote requiring him to complete a focused environmental impact report before building a residence, caretaker's cabin, standalone bathroom and other trenching on the 57-acre island, located offshore from Clearlake Oaks.
On Tuesday the board had before it the final step in Nady's appeal process, approval of the 12-page findings of fact.
The document received a 3-2 vote, with Supervisor Denise Rushing and Supervisor Anthony Farrington once again voting against.
Nady – who has owned the island since 2003 – has been at the center of controversy due to his building plans on the ground that the Elem Pomo say is both sacred and central to their culture.
Since the board's September vote to overturn the planning commission's decision, the controversy has only continued. On Oct. 10, several dozen protesters traveled to Nady Systems in Emeryville to protest his plans, and the board also heard more outcry at this week's meeting.
On Tuesday, as the board considered the findings, Rushing said that in order for the board to grant the appeal it had to say the document's findings were accurate.
“I'm trying to capture what the board said but, with all due respect, I don't think the facts are accurate,” she said. “I don't think we can say that experts did not disagree.”
Rushing was referring to the disagreements between archaeologists – those surveyed the island and others who reviewed the studies – that there were not significant archaeological findings in the building area.
She said the document also would have to find the project would not have a significant impact on the environment, which she also disputed.
The California Environmental Quality Act – CEQA – says that when experts disagree on such findings, a governing body must find in favor of completing an environmental impact report, she said. “That's the basis of my vote and that's where I think we're at.”
Clearlake Oaks resident Herb Gura urged the board to order an EIR, which he said was the most prudent thing to do. “You don't know what you might find.”
Jim Brown of the Elem Nation told the board, “My tribe now has to go in another direction.”
He said his tribe thought they would get justice from the board, but now they have people getting them attorneys. Brown accused the board of being complicit with Nady in not following the law to protect cultural sites.
A statement at the earlier hearings that the tribe did not want artifacts removed from the island for study was a lie, said Brown, adding that they only wanted burial items left.
“You guys of course believed it because a rich white man is telling you this,” he said.
Brown said the tribe's only solution was to go to court to stop the project.
Responding to some of Brown's comments, Community Development Director Rick Coel told the board that there has been a lot of misinformation about what has, and what hasn't, taken place on the island over the last several years.
He said his department has received numerous complaints about activities on the island. “We consistently send staff out to look at that.”
Coel said he's also visited the island and toured it. “I saw every corner of that island.”
He said he didn't allow Nady to rewrite or edit the draft report on the project to the board, as has previously been alleged. “Again, I don't know where this information is coming from. We have a process to follow.”
Middletown resident Lisa Kaplan asked how to determine what was “significant” in the archaeological findings. “We can't say it's not significant because it's not significant to us.”
Upper Lake resident Haji Warf said the island was a political and religious center for the southeastern Pomo. “You're messing with a national treasure as far as I'm concerned.”
Warf said she was very disappointed in the direction the board's decision was going, accusing the supervisors of doing what was politically expedient.
“In the end this is going to tear our community apart, and I urge you to reconsider doing that. It's already tearing a lot of peoples' hearts out,” Warf said, asking the supervisors to think about the national significance of what they were doing.
Batsulwin Brown, Elem's vice chair, told the board, “You need to consider what has been done to our own tribe.”
He said there were agencies that were supposed to protect the tribe's rights but didn't. “This issue doesn't stop here.”
He added, “You're impacting future generations of Lake County people.”
He said it was hard for him to continue to go before the board and feel like his tribe was getting equal justice.
If the board could allow a site with so much significance to be destroyed, Batsulwin Brown asked what message that sends to the county's tribal communities. “When we come forward, this is the response we get.”
He said the findings were one-sided and dismissed important archaeological testimony.
“All of this land was promised to us through treaty,” he said. “All of these lands were illegally taken.”
Brown also told them, “You're removing our signature from the land.”
Rushing told fellow supervisors, “This is a huge decision on the part of this board.”
Supervisor Rob Brown said he didn't disagree. He said there was a good chance the issue was going to go to court. “I don't think that's a bad thing,” he said, adding that going to court would eliminate the emotions and the politics.
Brown said he understood the emotion connected to the island, and had spoken to tribal members about the matter.
He said it was not up to the board to determine if the land had been taken lawfully, as tribal members and their supporters have asked the board to do. He said the board's consideration was limited to a land use decision.
Referring to comments that the island would be “destroyed” by Nady's plans to build a home, Brown said when he thought about destruction he thought about bigger projects, like shopping centers, airports and casinos. Nady should have a right to build his home, Brown added.
Brown said he felt the proposed mitigation and monitoring plan will help determine if, as the project moves forward, there are assets that need to be saved.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
101811 Board of Supervisors - Rattlesnake Island Findings of Fact
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