Lode golf course dealt new setback

 The Trinitas golf course does not qualify as agritourism, the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors said Tuesday, another potential nail in the project’s coffin.

The 3-2 decision came after five hours of debate that saw more than 30 opponents and supporters make reasoned, angry, even wet-eyed addresses to the board.
 

The project’s supporters included business representatives plus friends, relatives and neighbors of the property owners. Opponents included other neighbors plus environmental and rural-advocacy groups.

Owners Michael and Michelle Nemee also face a foreclosure sale of the 280-acre golf course property south of Wallace at 10 a.m. Friday on the steps of the county courthouse, leaving little time to resolve the future of the 18-hole golf course that now has an 11,000-page paper trail.

“Clearly, we’re disappointed. We’re not ruling out any options,” said Michael Nemee after the vote. “We’ve got a lot sitting in our laps right now.”

The decision followed the direction of county staff and upheld a ruling by the county Planning Commission that the golf course was prohibited under the property’s zoning, noted opponents.

“This is a victory for those who want Calaveras County to follow the law,” said John Buckley, executive director of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center.

Supervisors Merita Callaway, Tom Tryon and Steve Wilensky joined for the 3-2 majority, reprising a bloc that in May turned down extensive additional developments proposed for the site. Each said they did not believe golf is an agritourism activity.

“It is important we do not twist our laws to fit a particular case,” Wilensky said. “Flexibility is one thing, but complete self-contradiction is another.”

Tryon said he had not supported the project from the beginning, due to the absence of necessary infrastructure. He added that the Nemees’ decision to continue construction without county permits and their bank’s poor judgement had led to the family’s dire position.

Indeed, the couple, who have two young boys, said in a tearful opening presentation that their livelihoods are on the line.

“If you don’t grant our appeal today, we’ll lose our farm, our ranch and our whole business,” said Michelle Nemee.

The board also voted to consider whether golf can be included, perhaps with conditions, under one of the agricultural zoning designations. But for the dissenting board members, current code suffices to allow the Nemees’ project.

“This is like a poster child for what our ag ordinance is asking our ag community to do,” Supervisor Russ Thomas said of the Trinitas project.

Supervisor Gary Tofanelli, who represents the Wallace-Burson area, joined Thomas, whose district lies just south, in voting to grant the Nemees’ appeal.