The staff of the California Coastal Commission last week issued a scathing report on the hotel proposed by the Trinidad Rancheria on a bluff overlooking a scenic drive near the Cher-Ae Heights Casino, which the tribe operates just off Highway 101.
It recommends that the commission oppose the proposal to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is considering putting the land into trust for the 154-member tribe.
The proposed project is in Humboldt County in Northern California, one of the most scenic areas of the California coast. The Coastal Commission is a state agency with quasi-regulatory power over land use along the coast.
The report criticizes the Rancheria for not providing enough information on a number of issues, including where the hotel would get its water. The Trinidad Rancheria Economic Development Corporation (TREDC) says it plans to buy water from the city of Trinidad, but the city hasn’t yet agreed to sell the water because it is uncertain that its supply is sufficient.
The 28-page report notes that the draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the project estimates that the hotel would consume about 18,860 gallons per day (gpd) but then states “A letter from the BIA received on March 20, 2019. indicates that ‘the Tribe has incorporated water saving design features, including off-site contracted laundry service, that would reduce the water demand to approximately 3,000-3,500 gpd,” but does not show how those dramatic savings would be achieved.
The commission staff also has questions about wastewater given that the city of Trinidad has no sewer treatment plant and relies on septic systems.
The report also criticizes the EA for not adequately addressing an active landslide on the site.
The report further notes that the tribe’s proposal, while relying on the state building a new interchange to link U.S. Highway 101 to the Rancheria, does not address the complication that this might violate the Coastal Act.
The report also criticizes the proposed five-story hotel for impinging on the landscape: “known for its beauty and relatively wild, undeveloped setting of ocean, sea stacks, coastline, and forested hills and bluffs.”
California Coastal Commission Senior Environmental Analyst John Weber told CDC Gaming Reports that the commission, which is a state agency, and the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs usually work cooperatively and work towards compromise, although the BIA does have the last say.
