In popular parlance, it can be said fairly that Travis Schneider has landed squarely in the “find out” portion of the proceedings.
Seven years after the formerly local developer began construction of his family dream house in Bayside without a building permit, embarking on a long series of violations that would ultimately doom the project, the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously Feb. 4 to approve a landmark settlement agreement. Under the accord, which has been under negotiation for almost two years, Schneider will pay $400,000 in penalties, deconstruct his partially built mansion, remove approximately 120 dump-trucks worth of fill material from the site, remediate the property to its pre-violation state and then transfer its ownership to a nonprofit created by the three Wiyot area tribes, which have a vested interest in the property, as it is home to an ancestral village site.
During the hearing, multiple commissioners expressed dismay at the history and extent of violations at the site and gratitude to coastal commission staff for working with Schneider to find a resolution.
“Every day I’m proud to be a commissioner on this commission and none more than today,” said Vice Chair Caryl Hart before singling out the “land back component” for applause. “You want to talk about environmental justice? There’s no more just result than the one here.”
Schneider attended the Feb. 4 hearing but did not address the commission, having his attorney, Brad Johnson, do so in his place. In brief initial comments, Johnson said his client believes this is a “good resolution” and asked that the commission approve it. But he later disputed some of commissioners’ comments and staff’s findings, and sought to minimize the scope and impact of Schneider’s permit violations.
The project first burst into the view of the general public during the Aug.18, 2022 meeting of the Humboldt County Planning Commission, at which the commission considered a draft agreement to resolve allegations that Schneider had violated his coastal development permit in a number of ways. When the Wiyot Tribe and the Blue Lake Rancheria opposed approval of the agreement — saying it was a draft framework with details still needing to be negotiated and finalized — then Planning Commissioner Alan Bongio responded angrily, making far-reaching comments about “Indians,” accusing local tribes of extorting Schneider and playing a “game” with cultural resources. Many found Bongio’s rant deeply offensive and racist, and it ultimately drew a censure from the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors.
In the ensuing months, it was discovered that the extent of Schneider’s permit violations was more serious than previously known — including that he’d begun construction without a permit, defied a county stop-work order for 50 days and was constructing a 21,000-square-foot home, more than double the size his permit allowed.
Schneider subsequently reached a new agreement with the county to resolve the violations but it was appealed to the California Coastal Commission, which decided to take up the issue in March of 2024.
Shelby Wayment, an attorney with the commission’s enforcement unit, delivered the bulk of the staff report on the proposed resolution at the Feb. 4 meeting.
She began her presentation focusing on the importance of wetlands, like those in the Fay Slough Wildlife Area that abuts Schneider’s property at the foot of Walker Point Road off the Indianola Cutoff.
“Given that California has lost upward of 90 percent of its historical wetlands, the remaining wetlands, including those located on the properties adjacent to Fay Slough, have been designated critically threatened habitat,” she said, adding they are home to a diversity of wildlife, including newts, egrets, herons, red legged frogs, northwest salamanders and more.
The two-parcel property in question also has cultural and historical significance, Wayment said, noting that it overlooks Tuluwat Island — the spiritual center of the Wiyot universe since time immemorial — and is home to a well-preserved, pre-contact Wiyot village site first documented in 1918.
As such, Wayment said the coastal development permit issued by the county in September of 2017 contained a host of restrictions to protect the adjacent wetlands and cultural resources. From the commission’s perspective, she said Schneider committed “four main violations:” He cleared native California blackberry he’d pledged to protect, cleared vegetation and cut a road within a 100-foot wetland buffer area, and began construction of his “significantly larger” than permitted home within the wetland buffer, all while developing in known cultural resource areas.
Schneider, Wayment said, also brought considerably more fill material — “120 dump trucks worth of material, or 110 more than authorized” — to the property.
Under the agreement approved Feb. 4, Schneider has 60 days to submit an official offer to dedicate the two-parcel property to a nonprofit created by the three Wiyot area tribes. He will then pay for work to deconstruct the partially built home, remove the fill materials, and remediate and restore the property to its prior state. He will also pay for tribal monitors to oversee the work, under the agreement, while also paying a total of $400,000 in penalties, with $300,000 going to the Coastal Commission’s remediation fund and $100,000 going to the tribal nonprofit for ongoing stewardship of the property. Final transfer of ownership will occur once all remediation work is complete.
About a half-dozen speakers addressed the commission during public comment, with many expressing dismay at the scope of violations and all voicing support for the resolution, though some, including Penny Elia, expressed concern about enforcing compliance.
“My concern after a few decades of working with respondents on restoration following destruction from development — and I’ve never seen anything quite like this — is that the job never gets fully accomplished because oversight tends to diminish. Out of sight, out of mind, so speak,” Elia said. “This is a very, very large area to restore and will require a lot of oversight. I’m just looking for assurances that strict monitoring will, in fact, occur.”
Wiyot Tribal Administrator Michelle Vassel noted that while local tribes’ initial efforts to alert the county of Humboldt to Schneider’s permit violations were met with insults, threats and “public displays of racism,” she was thankful for commission staff’s respect, adherence to the law and interest in protecting coastal lands.
“My only concern about the settlement agreement is compliance,” she said.
When the matter came to the commission for discussion, Hart said that while reading through staff’s extensive report, she just “became more and more stunned at the violation,” disturbed at the damage done and “concerned” for Schneider’s non-compliance with the county’s stop-work order.
“Who will be providing the oversight to make sure the restoration work is proceeding in a way that is compliant with the coastal act?” Hart asked.
Commission Chief of Enforcement Lisa Haage responded that commission staff would be, to the extent it is able, explaining that the commission doesn’t have the staff and resources to take on remediation and bill the property owner, as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would with a Superfund site. That, Haage added, is why the agreement incorporates an extensive tribal monitoring plan.
After Johnson pushed back against some of Hart’s assertions only to have Haage object to his version of events, Commission Chair Meagan Harmon brought the conversation back to “reflect on what an important moment this is.”
“This is a truly incredible result out of a very challenging situation,” she said, adding that the “land back provision is remarkable.” “I do feel a sense of, frankly, joy about the outcome.”
Commissioner and Humboldt County Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson, who was appointed to the commission in 2019 and whose supervisorial district includes Schneider’s property, then made three separate motions — to approve a cease and desist order, approve a restoration order and impose an administrative penalty — each of which passed unanimously.
Thadeus Greenson (he/him) is a freelance journalist and the Journal’s former news editor.
This article appears in Needles and Ink.