How to resolve AdBlock issue? LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Two environmental groups that have been the staunchest opponents of a proposed south county luxury resort said Thursday they have reached an agreement with the developers to protect habitat and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Center for Biological Diversity and the California Native Plant Society reached the agreement with the developers of the Guenoc Valley Mixed Use Planned Development Project.
The agreement calls for the conservation of more than 3,700 acres of the 16,000 acres that’s part of the overall Guenoc property, as well as implementation of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with an $2 million secured for additional off-site conservation.
The announcement of the agreement comes as the Lake County Planning Commission is set to continue its hearing on Friday morning regarding the new environmental impact report for the Guenoc Valley project.
“A large swath of open space will be permanently protected with this agreement, allowing wildlife to roam and benefiting the entire community,” said Peter Broderick, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “As temperatures rise and wildfires become more destructive, developers need to focus on projects that minimize climate risks and keep communities safe. The common-sense measures in this agreement are a big improvement from what was proposed five years ago.”
The agreement will permanently preserve 3,717 acres of the project site, which includes oak woodlands habitat for golden eagles, foothill yellow-legged frogs and western pond turtles and serves as an important wildlife corridor for the region.
Other terms of the agreement include funding for local projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, groundwater monitoring, increased development setback for perennial streams and wetlands, and additional protections for sensitive plants.
“In addition to permanently protecting a large area of sensitive serpentine habitat, today’s settlement also ensures better monitoring of rare plant mitigation efforts and adds more buffer zones to protect riparian and aquatic habitats from development,” said Nick Jensen, California Native Plant Society conservation director. “These changes mark major improvements to the project, made possible by years of advocacy and negotiation.”
These terms in the agreement are in addition to others previously reached between the developer and California’s attorney general. Those include measures to reduce wildfire ignition risks and reduce the number of dead-end roads originally planned for the project. The separate agreement also calls for solar panels and electric vehicle charging equipment in all residential and commercial buildings.
The Board of Supervisors approved the project’s first EIR in July 2020, and the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Native Plant Society sued the county in September of that year for approving the development in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act. The California attorney general later filed his own legal challenge.
A 2021 trial in Lake County Superior Court led to a January 2022 ruling in which Judge J. David Markham found that the county’s EIR on the project was insufficient due to its conclusions that community fire evacuation routes were “less than significant.” Markham’s ruling led to a new EIR.
Late last year, the California First District Appellate Court ruled in the matter, also ordering a new EIR and determining that the county failed to assess how the project would worsen existing wildfire risks.
The revised project now being considered by the county expects a multiple-phase development of up to 400 hotel rooms, 450 resort residential units, 1,400 residential estates, 500 workforce co-housing units, a community clubhouse and associated infrastructure, a proposed water supply well on an off-site parcel and pipeline located adjacent to and within Butts Canyon Road, and intersection and electrical transmission line improvements.
As part of the newly announced agreement, the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Native Plant Society agreed to not challenge this revised version of the development currently pending before the Lake County Planning Commission.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.8 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
The California Native Plant Society is a statewide nonprofit organization that protects California’s native plants and their natural habitats through science, education, stewardship, gardening and advocacy.
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