| | $9,000,000 in Archaeological Site Destruction in Morro Bay California
City of Morro Bay Violates California Environmental Quality Act Causing Untold Damage to Largest Prehistoric Village in Morro Bay
The City of Morro Bay approved the construction of 4 duplexes and two single-family homes to take place in the center of archaeological site CA-SLO-165. This significant site contains a wealth of information about the Chumash culture spanning the past 9,000 years. Just recently, archaeological work at the site has been used to determine when the silting of Morro Bay began and how long ago the Chumash culture began their shell bead money economy. The site is also the location of hundreds of Chumash burials. Beginning in August 2005, backhoes and graders trenched, terraced, and cut into cultural soils at the site. No archeology was conducted before the destruction (now completed) and it is estimated that more than $9 million in damage has been done to this non-renewable resource. In 2000, Archaeologist Nancy Farrell did a test excavation within the project area and discovered intact cultural soils extending to a depth of 1.4 meters (4 1/2 feet).
How could this have happened?
In reviewing the planning documents, it was discovered that in 2002 one property owner had plans for a single-family home. The archaeological evaluation of that project indicated the presence of the prehistoric site. The archaeologist and project architect worked out a mitigation plan to protect as much of the site as possible. The plan called for building the house on caissons rather than perimeter foundations. Caissons call for several small holes to be drilled into the soil for concrete "stilts" that hold beams. The house is then built on the beams. Caissons require much less trenching and grading than standard foundations, preserving the natural soil and the archaeological site. Because this plan protected most of the archaeological site soil, no archaeological excavation and data recovery was required. The plan only called for archaeological monitoring during construction.  Four years later, the property had changed hands and the new owner was able to split the lot and proposed two homes on "normal" trenched foundations. The city approved this NEW project using the same mitigation plan that was written for the single home on caissons. As the original archaeological evaluation only required monitoring of construction, no archaeological excavation was required to mitigate the damage caused by this newly proposed trenching. The California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) is very specific in its requirements for proposed damage to archaeological sites:
Archaeological sites that cannot be preserved in place shall be mitigated through the excavation and analysis of the “scientifically consequential information from or about the resource”
(CEQA Guidelines 15126.4 C).
By using the archaeological mitigation plan for the single home on caissons to approve construction of the two houses on normal foundations, the City of Morro Bay violated
CEQA.  But the violation didn't stop there. A few months later, adjacent parcel owners proposed 4 duplexes to be built on normal trenched footings. This also required huge trenches through site soil for a downslope retaining walls, footings, and utilities. All of these projects were approved using the same archaeological mitigation plan that was written for a single house on caissons. No archaeological excavation or analysis was conducted to mitigate the damage caused by the trenching and grading for these projects. Approximately 1,148 cubic meters of intact cultural soils were destroyed overall. We will never know what information these soils and their artifacts contained.
CEQA does allow Cities and Counties to use a single environmental document or mitigation plan for several projects.... as long as those projects will have the SAME impact on the environment as the original project for which the mitigation report was written.
None of the City approved projects (4 duplexes and two houses) had the same impact on the environment as the original project that called for construction of a single house on caissons. In approving each one of these projects, the City violated CEQA law.
Several San Luis Obispo County citizens filed formal complaints with the Grand Jury. In addition, a formal complaint and request for action has been filed with the State Attorney General's Office.
Click on this link to see one of the complaints sent to the State Attorney General's
Office: 07AGComplaint.pdf
Click on this link see the excuses given by the Morro Bay City Attorney for the City's decision to approve these projects without any archaeological data
recovery: MBattorneymemorandum.pdf
Click HERE to see a copy of our review of the City Attorneys memorandum. We have provided this review to the Grand Jury, Morro Bay City Council, Planning Commission, and City Staff.
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