Trinitas owners file claim against county

The owners of The Ridge at Trinitas golf course project near Wallace filed a claim Tuesday for “unlimited” damages against Calaveras County, a preliminary step in what could become their third lawsuit against the county.

Michael and Michelle Nemee charge that the county “encouraged” them to continue construction of their 18-hole golf course and sent an employee to help them secure a $2.4 million loan, then failed to properly complete the project’s Environmental Impact Report before the county Board of Supervisors voted that it was inadequate.
 

The couple was put in a “financially draining holding pattern” and their civil rights and property rights were violated by the county’s actions, the claim alleges.

The filing comes nearly a month after the Nemees filed for bankruptcy, preventing a bank foreclosure sale of their property scheduled for two days later.

According to procedure, the county has 45 days to either accept or reject the claim, which government code requires be filed before suing a county. If it is rejected, the Nemees can follow up with a formal lawsuit.

The County Counsel’s Office — following its policy on the many legal questions related to the Nemees’ project — declined to comment.   

Lew and Kathy Mayhew, of Keep It Rural, Calaveras, a group of neighbors that oppose the golf course, issued a statement saying: “KIRC has confidence that this claim, and the other lawsuits, are without merit and that the county will prevail.”

Staff for both Michael Nemee, who comments for the couple on their legal battles, and attorney Ken Foley, who is representing the Nemees in the claim and their two lawsuits, said they were out of town and unavailable for comment.

The claim alleges three unnamed members of the Board of Supervisors and about 20 county employees — naming only Assistant County Counsel Janis Elliott and former planner Shaelyn Strattan — were responsible for the damages.

Strattan recently resigned from the department, according to the Human Resources Department.

No supervisors are specifically named in the claim.

Merita Callaway, Tom Tryon and Steve Wilensky made up the 3-2 majority ruling that the project’s draft EIR was inadequate — the vote referenced in the Nemees’ claim.

In October, that trio also upheld a Planning Commission ruling that the golf course did not qualify as agritourism, as the Nemees argued.

That same claim is being made in a lawsuit the Nemees filed against the county earlier this year. Its next hearing is Monday.

The Nemees’ third lawsuit, which argues the county failed to properly prepare the project’s EIR, will be heard Dec. 14.