LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The effort to build a major new resort near Middletown is taking another step forward with the issuance of a new draft environmental document that comes two and a half years after a judge ruled that the county approved it without adequately considering wildfire evacuation impacts.
Last week, the county of Lake released the notice of availability for the new draft partially revised environmental impact report, or DPREIR, for the Guenoc Valley Mixed-Use Development Project, which also is known as Maha Guenoc Valley.
The document includes the project’s improvements to address wildfire, prevention safety and emergency response measures as well as additional measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect local water supplies, which have been concerns since the project got off the ground about eight years ago.
“The release of the DPREIR is an important milestone for the Guenoc Valley Project, which has undergone extensive environmental review by state and local officials. Proposed modifications to the project outlined in the DPREIR include enhancements to emergency evacuation and response and wildfire prevention, and additional measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect local water supplies. These revisions build on our mission of protecting the community and environment and will make this master planned community the benchmark for wildfire and climate resiliency in California,” said the Guenoc Valley Project team in a statement released to Lake County News.
The Board of Supervisors approved the first phase of the project in July 2020.
At that point, the plan included 385 residential villas in five subdivisions; five boutique hotels with 127 hotel units and 141 resort residential cottages; 20 campsites; up to 100 workforce housing cohousing units; an outdoor entertainment area, spa and wellness amenities, sports fields, equestrian areas, a new golf course and practice facility, camping area and commercial and retail facilities; agricultural production and support facilities; essential accessory facilities, including back of house facilities; 50 temporary workforce hotel units; emergency response and fire center; a float plane dock; and helipads.
Two months after that approval, the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Native Plant Society, with the California Attorney General’s Office intervening in support of them, sued the county over the project.
Judge J. David Markham presided over the trial in the case in the fall of 2021, and in January of 2022 handed down a ruling that found that the county had based its conclusions about the impact on community fire evacuation routes being less than significant on the opinions of traffic engineers, law enforcement and fire personnel.
Markham found that those opinions “were not based on any identifiable facts,” and therefore were not legally insufficient to be considered as “substantial evidence” under the California Environmental Quality Act.
He ruled the county’s environmental impact report, or EIR, was insufficient due to its conclusions on wildfire evacuation routes matter and ordered the county to set its final EIR certification aside, along with findings regarding the emergency evacuation plan and the project’s approval.
As a result, the document had to be revamped.
A reworked plan
Asked about the specific changes to the plan, the Guenoc Valley Project team told Lake County News that the new DPREIR’s amendments would allow for the development of up to 400 hotel rooms, 450 resort residential units, 1,400 residential estates, and 500 workforce co-housing units within the zoning district.
That’s not much different in size from the original plan that the county approved. However, the Markham ruling addressed evacuation routes, not density.
The team said the project modifications revise the original project analyzed in the 2020 EIR such that 25 building sites within the equestrian center area and 39 building sites within the northeastern portion of the project site would be relocated further from the wildland/urban interface, and various connector roads and road buffers would be added.
The project modifications include voluntary measures and some contained within a January 2023 settlement agreement with the state of California, and which are intended to further reduce the wildfire risks and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the proposed project, the team reported.
The team listed the following project modifications of note:
• A new proposed emergency route called the Grange Road Connector will connect the Guenoc Valley Site with the county-maintained Grange Road to the north. The Grange Road Connector will be approximately 3.9 miles, with 2.2 miles occurring on the Guenoc Valley Site and 1.7 miles sited on the off-site property to the north.
• Relocating 25 residential building sites that the 2020 Project would have located on a hilltop near the proposed equestrian center and 39 residential building sites that the 2020 project would have located within the northeastern portion of the project site such that they would be located further from the wildland/urban interface.
• Reconfiguring the roadway plan so that there are no dead-end, non-looped road segments that exceed 1-mile in length;
• Improving an area of approximately 10 feet on each side of roadways with hardscape, to the extent topography permits;
• Removal of the camping area in the northern portion of the property;
• Funding and staffing commitments for the onsite Emergency Response Center; and
• Various renewable energy commitments and greenhouse gas reduction measures that will not change the development footprint.
“We remain focused on working with county officials, community members and fire safety experts so that this first-of-its kind project can continue to move forward and bring increased fire safety and economic opportunity to the region,” the Guenoc Valley Project team said in its statement.
More information about proposed modifications included in the DPREIR can be found at guenocvalley.com/dpreir-summary/.
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New environmental document for Guenoc Valley Project released
- Elizabeth Larson
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