Ruling won't slow Turtle Bay growth

By Kimberly Bolander

June 22, 2000 Web posted at: 11:12 AM EDT (1512 GMT)

REDDING, California (Redding Record Searchlight) -- Turtle Bay Museums and city of Redding officials said Tuesday they intend to refile a use permit application for the museum's main structure project since a judge declared their state environmental plans faulty last week.

Officials at Turtle Bay Museums and Arboretum on the River said they have just finished design plans for what will be the museum's focal point. The 30,000-plus-square-foot building, to be built near the south bank of the Sacramento River, will be called the Turtle Bay Museum.

Plans to begin construction late this year will not be delayed by the preliminary court finding, Turtle Bay President Judy Lalouche said.

In the court document, visiting Trinity County Judge John K. Letton said the city and museum failed to file required California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) documents. Instead, the agencies mistakenly expected that a different environmental assessment would also fulfill CEQA's environmental impact requirements.

Letton wrote that the reports are not interchangeable, and the city must create a CEQA document before construction can begin.

The judge was responding to a lawsuit filed in November by Duncan Cunningham and Timothy Morrow, members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 340, and the Redding Citizens to Preserve the Sacramento River. The plaintiffs questioned the environmental effects of the project.

City Attorney Leonard Wingate said he is still reviewing the judge's findings, but intends to follow his recommendation.

"We have two choices. One is to appeal, and one is to move forward and remedy this situation. And I really think it's in everyone's best interest to move forward. Everyone wants to see Turtle Bay complete their project," Wingate said.

He expects the matter to be resolved in the next 45 to 65 days.

Lalouche said it's ridiculous to think an environmental-educational group would intentionally bypass the state's wildlife preservation measures.

"The environmental issue is not the problem. We of all people will make sure we show due diligence, to make sure we don't just talk the talk, we walk the walk," she said. "This is a technical issue that needs to be resolved, and it will be."

In fact, the building's size has been reduced substantially from its 1995 proposal, minimizing its potential threat to wildlife, Lalouche said.

The next step for Turtle Bay is for the city to re-evaluate the structure's impact on the riverfront land, Wingate said.

CEQA outlines four environmental paths for city projects to follow, requiring them to choose the most appropriate. For the museum project, Wingate said the two most applicable paths are:

To issue a mitigated negative declaration. This would find that the project causes no significant effect on the environment. For this path, the state requires one public hearing.

To file an addendum to an existing negative declaration filed in 1999. For this, the city must show the project contains no changes or additions, and list steps to mitigate potential environmental impacts. This path would require no further public hearings, Wingate said.

Turtle Bay filed an original use permit application in 1995, then an amended version in June 1999.

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