California Attorney General Rob Bonta has intervened in a lawsuit challenging San Benito County’s approval of the Betabel Commercial Development on U.S. 101 south of Hollister, Bonta’s office announced this week.
The lawsuit was initially filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and Protect San Benito County in 2022. Bonta attempted to intervene in the civil litigation in March 2023. However, a San Benito County Superior Court judge dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the plaintiffs had not met state environmental law deadlines for filing the complaint.
The plaintiffs appealed that decision, and the Sixth District Court of Appeals agreed with the Amah Mutsun Tribe and other plaintiffs that the lawsuit was timely.
The lawsuit alleges the project’s Environmental Impact Report violated the California Environmental Quality Act. Specifically, the EIR failed to meet CEQA requirement that the county consult with California Native American tribes and address impacts to tribal cultural resources that could be harmed by the project, Bonta’s office said.
The Betabel project is a 108,425-square-foot commercial proposal with a variety of uses. It is located at the Betabel Road and U.S.101 exit, on a portion of the ancestral lands—known as Juristac—of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band.
The AG’s petition to intervene is asking the court to order San Benito County to withdraw its existing EIR and reopen tribal consultation under CEQA requirements. Bonta is also asking that the county be ordered to fully analyze the Betabel project’s impacts on tribal cultural resources and consider mitigation efforts identified by the tribe.
“Ensuring that California Native American tribes are consulted about a project’s potential impacts to tribal cultural resources is crucial to support thriving tribal communities in the state,” Bonta said. “Today’s petition challenging the county’s decision to approve the Betabel project, without complying with its consultation obligations with the Tribe, seeks to address the potential irreparable harms to the cultural landscape and resources of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band.
“Project development and proper tribal consultation under the law are not mutually exclusive, and we’re committed to helping local governments find a sustainable path forward. At the California Department of Justice, we’re dedicated to elevating the voices of California’s tribal communities in asserting their rights under the law concerning their ancestral lands.”
Mary Hsia-Coron, of Protect San Benito County, said she is pleased to hear that Bonta’s office is still interested in the litigation.
“We are happy to hear that the attorney general is intervening again, and decided this case is worth pursuing,” Hsia-Coron said.
CEQA includes important procedural requirements for public agencies to consult with tribes that are traditionally or culturally affiliated with a project site and analyze project impacts on tribal cultural resources during their environmental review process for a project, the AG’s office added.
Bonta’s office claims that San Benito County rushed through its tribal consultation process and did not sufficiently consider or address impacts to tribal cultural resources. As a result, several tribal cultural resources were not identified in the Draft EIR, and thus the impacts on those resources were not adequately analyzed or disclosed.
“The county’s failure to meaningfully and timely consult with the Tribe and its failure to analyze and mitigate impacts to tribal cultural resources violated CEQA,” says a press release from Bonta’s office.
In December 2022, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band filed a lawsuit against the San Benito County Board of Supervisors and developers of the Betabel project—following a similar complaint filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the environmental group Protect San Benito County—claiming the board violated CEQA in approving a conditional use permit for the commercial proposal.
The groups sought the reversal of permit approvals by the county, which were granted despite an alleged inadequate EIR that failed to account for serious potential environmental effects, according to the filing.
The San Benito County Counsel’s office said this week it had opposed the intervention in the lawsuit by Bonta’s office and “(this) action does not change the nature of the action.”
Located at 9644 Betabel Road, the 26-acre project proposed by the McDowell Trust includes a total of 108,425 square feet of commercial space—with a gas station and convenience store, restaurant, up to five amusement buildings, a visitor center, three-story motel (with an outdoor movie screen), event area, livestock corral, farmstand and related parking, restrooms, driveways and other supporting facilities.
The McDowell Charity Trust has promised to donate all profits from the development of the Betabel Road site to pediatric cancer research.
Developer Rider McDowell did not return a phone call requesting comment. Herman Garcia, who has worked with McDowell on the Betabel project for several years, said the plaintiff Protect San Benito County has “never come up with an alternative for economic development in San Benito County.”
hello