CLEARLAKE, Calif. – As wildfires raged across the western U.S. and many cities smothered in smoke from the fires, the Center for Biological Diversity recently filed a lawsuit in Lake County California Superior Court seeking injunctive relief against a proposed luxury resort and residential development in a fire-prone area.
The Guenoc Valley Mixed-Use Planned Development Project would be set in an area that has repeatedly burned in recent years and was recently evacuated due to California’s recent wildfires, a release issued on the Center's website said.
Peter Broderick, a staff attorney at the Center, noted in the release that the decision to approve the development places development dollars ahead of public safety.
“A big chunk of the project site has actually burned, including both sides of Butts Canyon Road, which is the only road that provides any ingress or egress from the project site,” Broderick told the Northern California Record.
The County has also invited concern from the state due to a failure to evaluate what effect the development might have on future wildfires, both in terms of increased risk of ignition and in terms of evacuations, the release said.
”Evacuation along that [Butts Canyon] road was a significant concern that we raised, and the attorney general raised, in comments on the project prior to approval,” Broderick told the Record.
The Center has also raised concerns about the overall environmental impacts of the project.
“The undeveloped 16,000-acre project site contains oak woodlands, wildlife corridors and habitat for sensitive wildlife species including golden eagles, foothill yellow-legged frogs and western pond turtles,” the release stated. Building plans for the resort include a golf course, polo grounds, spa, helipad and float plane landing accommodations.
Promotional materials for the planned resort, dubbed the Maha Resort Development in Lake County, report that the initial investment is approximately $5 billion, and will include wineries, destination restaurants and custom homes on parcels ranging from two to 500 acres.
The development plan was approved by the Lake County Board of Supervisors on July 21, court documents said. In addition to permitting the development of up to 850 hotel and resort residential units and 1,400 residential estates, the project calls for an off-site housing complex in the nearby town of Middletown for resort workers. Between residences within the development and the off-site worker housing, the Center alleged that the proposed development would add approximately 4,000 residents to Lake County.