By David Ledger
The decision on the Hawes Ranch zoning change from Agriculture to Commercial Recreation was approved in concept in a compromise decision by the Shasta County Board of Supervisors at its February 25 marathon meeting.
The Supervisors, on a 5/0 vote, moved to send it back to the Planning Department to remove the parcels in the floodplain, comprising about 40 acres, out of the Recreational Zoning change and leaving it with its current “Agricultural” zoning. Noise restrictions from the amusement park were restricted to 55 decibels at the property line, as that had been a big complaint from the neighbors; restrictions on lighting were imposed and no overnight camping of any type would be allowed. The former annual harvest festivals at the Hawes Ranch had developed over the years, adding events throughout the year including rock and country bands, with noise and lights keeping the neighbors up until midnight on the weekends. This was a bone of contention among neighbors, many of whom had lived nearby years before Hawes had developed the festivals.
SEA, CNPS, Sierra Club, and Battle Creek Alliance had submitted a joint letter opposing any development in the riparian areas. Shasta Birding Society had submitted comments opposing the same, as well as concerns about the effect of noise on protected bird species. While a biological assessment had found monarch butterflies on the property, a sensitive species that will soon be listed as threatened or endangered by the USFWS, the Supervisors did not require any mitigation or protection for the butterfly.
The monarch butterfly population collapsed to only 20,000 estimated in wintering areas in the winter of 2020-2021. In the winter of 2022-2023, the wintering population increased to 300,000 but far below the 1980s populations of 1 million to 4 million per year. When I visited a monarch butterfly preserve in Pismo Beach this winter, the populations were way down from the 1980s. Back then, butterflies covered some of the trees down to eye level. This year you had to use binoculars to see a few in the upper reaches of tall Eucalyptus trees.
The decision by the Supervisors regarding the zoning change has to go back to the Planning Commission for approval and then return to the Supervisors for a final vote. The Supervisors had been overwhelmed by emails and phone calls on the subject and were unlikely to make any changes to their provisional decision.
Remarkably, this session of the Supervisors’ meeting had little of the rancor of previous meetings and was quite civil despite sharp disagreements from those commenting, both proponents and opponents of the project. The decision basically just brought into conformance the violation of the Planned Development zoning that Hawes had already been doing for many years but it does allow for the expansion of the amusement area.