California AG, San Pasqual tribe say Poway violated CEQA building homes on old burial site

The state attorney general is accusing Poway of violating the California Environmental Quality Act by allowing dozens of new homes to be built on a sacred tribal site without sufficient review. 

California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the city Monday in San Diego County Superior Court over environmental concerns regarding the Hidden Valley Ranch development, where the remains of three indigenous ancestors were found hundreds of feet apart this year. 

“Project development, environmental compliance, and appropriate community consultation should go hand-in-hand,” Bonta said in a statement announcing the 31-page lawsuit. “The discovery of an apparent burial site that served as a final resting place for some of California’s first inhabitants warrants appropriate caution and respect.” 

The lawsuit comes after the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians has made several public pleas for the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to halt construction because the development is being built on an ancient burial site and is driving away nesting red-tailed hawks and other birds.

The tribe also filed a lawsuit Monday accusing the city of violating CEQA by failing to account for the discoveries of ancestral human remains and other cultural artifacts. It asks a court to require the city to assess the environmental impacts, consult with the tribe and develop culturally sensitive mitigation measures.

Poway spokesperson Rene Carmichael said the city was “blindsided” by Bonta’s announcement and had not been served the lawsuit as of Tuesday morning. 

“The City of Poway has been in consistent communication with the Attorney General’s office over the past few months to determine the best course of action and is fully cooperating with all requests,” Carmichael wrote in a statement. “Until very recently, and with no opportunity to understand or potentially cure any violations of CEQA, the city received no indication that a CEQA violation was being pursued.”

A project decades in the making

The 41-home Hidden Valley Ranch project was first approved and subjected to environmental review in 2003. The Poway City Council approved the project again in 2014 with some changes to the design. It sits on a portion of a 420-acre site on the east side of Old Coach Road. Developers Shea Homes bought the land in May 2025 and began construction that August. 

Bonta said there have been enough changes since the first environmental review – because of the ancestral remains and important tribal cultural resources on site — that the project warranted another review — something that Poway failed to do. 

In between the city’s two approvals, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new law in 2004 that requires local governments to consult with tribes to help protect tribal cultural places through local land use planning.

Michele Fahley, a lawyer who represents the tribe, said she can find no record of such consultation, and has asked the city for proof that it occurred.

Carmichael said that the city followed all state laws during its approval process, including holding public meetings and notifying tribes. She added that a tribal monitor is on the site daily during construction and that the city has met with tribal attorneys. 

In his suit, Bonta accused Poway of failing to reopen review of the project before allowing construction, not implementing appropriate mitigation measures from the 2003 environmental impact report, and not complying with city policies related to the discovery of ancestral human remains.

‘Trove’ of cultural resources

Even before three human remains were found this year, there was evidence that the site was one of cultural importance for the tribe. 

In between the city’s initial environmental impact report and the authorization of construction, the developer’s consultant found over 8,000 cultural resources, Bonta’s complaint said. That discovery, which the lawsuit says took place without tribal consultation or monitoring, included hundreds of pottery fragments and dozens of specialized tools like hammers and hammer stones, semi-precious stones, carved bone and arrowheads. 

The public was never notified of the significance of those findings, which  “greatly exceeded” what was anticipated in 2003, the lawsuit said.

Bonta’s suit alleges that a pair of archaeological data recovery reports were stored by the city after receipt and that one from 2004 “is emblazoned with a large handwritten note superimposed over the title” that reads, “NOT PUBLIC INFO.”

The lawsuits said that tribal leaders found the cremated bones of a child in October and then a jawbone with seven human teeth and the rib bones of a teenager or small-boned adult in March. The three discoveries were made in different parts of the property, hundreds of feet apart.

After members of the San Pasqual of Mission Indians visited the site frequently in November and December, the developers sent a letter to the tribe in December asking the tribe to “not enter upon its private property and not interfere with its lawful activities,” the lawsuit said.

The letter threatened to notify the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office if the tribe came back. 

The letter alleged that its citizens had been “unlawful[ly] interfer[ing]” with the project and “harass[ing]” staff on the site and said that failure to comply “will require our pursuit of all available legal remedies,” including asking the sheriff to remove “uninvited persons.”

Paul Barnes, the president of Shea Homes, said the developers have complied with all state and federal laws.

“We have made repeated good-faith efforts to engage in dialogue with the consulting tribes to address their concerns directly, but our efforts have been ignored,” Barnes said. “We remain open to constructive conversations and will continue to meet our legal and cultural stewardship responsibilities.”

Members of the tribe have continued to call for work to stop in order to properly handle the artifacts and remains. 

Carmichael said the city does not have the power to issue a stop order because the project is fully in compliance with all city approvals, and that it falls on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other state and federal agencies with jurisdiction.

The engineers have issued multiple site-specific stop-work requests to the developer, three of which are active, Public Affairs Chief Dena M. O’Dell told inewsource in March. O’Dell said that the engineers lack the federal control to stop work across the entire project site.

Steve Cope, chairman of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, said the tribe is committed to honoring its ancestors and finding a reasonable resolution for everyone. 

“San Pasqual Valley is a cultural heritage resource comprised of Tribal ceremonial and funerary sites, and a living, interdependent ecosystem that connects us through our ancestors’ deep time and deep space practices of movement, pause, and return,” he said.

“These suits do not seek to stop the project, but to ensure full consideration and redress of its adverse impacts, including on our heritage, ancestors, funerary items, environmental integrity, and culturally and religiously important resources throughout the area.”