RICHMOND — A $35.6-million grant approved Thursday will help turn 82 acres of Point Molate, a stretch of land along Richmond’s eastern bayfront, into a park, but leaders of the tribe that currently owns the land made clear their concerns with the purchasing process.
The California Coastal Commission voted Thursday to issue the state grant to the East Bay Regional Park District, covering most of the $40 million being paid to the Guidiville Rancheria Tribe for the purchase of Point Molate – property located on the San Pablo Peninsula not far from the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.
“These grant funds will make it possible for us to achieve a longtime shared vision of creating a world-class park at Point Molate and preserve this stunning bay front property with its natural and cultural history for all to enjoy,” said Elizabeth Echols, president of the East Bay Regional Parks District, during Thursday’s meeting.
Park district officials plan to turn the acreage, once home to the largest pre-prohibition winery in the United States and a former U.S. Navy fuel storage and transfer site, into permanently protected public open space.
But before the final vote could be held, tribal leaders and their legal representatives said they were inadequately consulted on the purchasing process and likened the sale to colonization.
“History is repeating itself,” Tribal Council Vice Chair Magdalene Warden said Thursday.
Marilyn Latta, a project manager with the California Coastal Conservancy, said meetings were held and letters were sent to the tribe’s legal team regarding the purchasing agreement. She asserted the tribe’s concerns were actually with state legislators who decided to help fund the purchase without consulting tribe leadership.
While the tribe doesn’t intend to block the sale, Warden said, tribal leaders said they take issue with assertions they support the purchase. A letter from Guidiville Rancheria attorney Scott Crowell clarified that the approved agreement is the best outcome out of bad options that do not advance the tribe’s governmental goals.
The aim, Crowell detailed, is for the tribe to restore its land base and develop a “world-class gaming resort” in the North Bay after losing its federal recognition and fighting for it to be reinstated.
The tribe sought to build a mega-casino complex in the area but those plans were rejected both by Richmond voters and the city council, leading to a lawsuit in 2012. A federal judge formally nixed the casino plan in a 2018 court ruling.
A settlement agreement allowed the tribe and its developer, Upstream Point Molate LLC, to purchase the land for $400. Under the agreement, the tribe had a total of five years to find a developer to purchase the land before it returned to city ownership. Three years remain before that deal elapses but attempts to develop would likely be met with costly litigation, Crowell acknowledged.
“An entire generation of the Tribe’s membership put their hearts and souls into realizing their vision at Point Molate – the next generation of tribal members now have the obligation to ensure that their parents’ and grandparents’ vision is fulfilled,” Crowell wrote. “The Tribe is not standing in the way of this transaction, but the Tribe will not allow itself to be portrayed as welcoming this sale nor allow the true facts and circumstances that led to this sale be swept under a rug.”
Additional concerns were raised to the commission by former Richmond Mayor Tom Butt regarding the preservation of Winehaven’s historical structures, which he said have been left to deteriorate and are further being damaged by ongoing rain.
A 2020 development proposal by Winehaven Legacy LLC, a Delaware-based company, sought to rehabilitate the historical structures within the 47-acre Winehaven Historical District as well as build 1,450 homes and 400,000 square feet of commercial space in the area.
An environmental review of that project was successfully challenged in court, meaning Winehaven would have to go through that process all over again to see its project through. But Richmond is still caught in a lawsuit with Winehaven Legacy, who accuses the city of stalling the project, preventing the company from obtaining necessary financing.
Despite the concerns raised, the commission voted to issue the grant with Vice Chair Marce Gutierrez-Graudins abstaining.
Commissioner Joy Sterling acknowledged the tribe as “gracious” for sharing their concerns while not standing in the way of a deal Chair Douglas Bosco said is indicative of what makes the country great.
“This is the epitome of what gives our country strength, I think,” Bosco said. “When people come before us who have worked 20 years or more to do something this important and will have such a great effect well into the future, frankly that gives me a lot of hope.”