Hawes Farm is planning to build an amusement park on 145 acres of land at the corner of Dersch and Deschutes Roads and extending to the Sacramento Rivers and the Shasta County Planning Department has issued a Negative Declaration (meaning that the project won’t have a significant environmental impact). Unfortunately, there are several issues with this negative declaration as there will and could be multiple environmental issues associated with this amusement park development.
The land is already pretty thrashed due to agricultural development for decades, however, there has been no talk about how this project could potentially negatively impact the Sacramento River, which the property abuts. Will the vegetative area near the river be impacted? Will trees be destroyed? The other issue that will impact the environment is the increase in the amount of traffic and therefore C02 emissions. The applicant claims they have had an event of up to 10,000 people in the past. Yet the Planning Documents state there will be no significant noise, air pollution, or traffic problems from the expanded project.
Those proposed for the future, include a rollercoaster, and paintball area; a fire hydrant system to serve the
retail/wholesale farm supply store uses and agritourism and agritainment activity area; electrical system
upgrades, ADA path, a septic system, and an agricultural well. Since the preparation of the proposed CDP, it is
known that several amusements have been installed at the project site, including the truck ride, ladybug ride,
fish ride, carousel, Scrambler, and Tilt-O-Whirl, a Little Dipper roller coaster, paratrooper ride, swing ride,
go-karts, and a zipline and hill/slide which are shown on the proposed CDP. Amusement rides up to 75 feet tall
will be allowed as well as “lodging” which isn’t specified in the Initial Study if that means a hotel.
Neighbors of Hawes Farm are opposed to this new park disrupting their rural setting with the increased traffic
and noise and will take away the rural, small-farm feel of the area.
This project will be discussed at an upcoming Shasta County Planning Commission meeting on August 24 at 2 pm at the Board of Supervisors meeting where you can go to comment. You can also comment by emailing scplanning@co.shasta.ca.us or calling the Planning Department at (530) 225-5532.