EarthGolf

As hard as I find it to believe, an entire golf course was built in California without a single permit. I am unclear how it’s at all possible to disturb at least 100 acres of property without, at a minimum, needing a land disturbance permit and impacting waters of the United States. But, Trinitas Golf Club in the northern California City of Wallace somehow has done it.

The problem is that the city is not allowing the golf course to open to the public.

The Trinitas Golf Club course won’t open in June, despite what national and regional golf magazines are saying. That’s because the environmental impact report won’t go to the Calaveras County Planning Commission until July, according to the resort’s owner. Calaveras County’s planning director is less definite, saying he doesn’t know when the environmental review on the controversial project will be done.
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Calaveras County Community Development Agency director Stephanie Moreno did not respond to e-mail and voice mail messages inquiring about the county’s view of constructing a golf course without permits. (Nemee has said from the beginning that building an 18-hole course for personal use on his ranch does not require any permit.)

Planning Department director Robert Sellman declined to discuss the legality of building a golf course without permits. He said only that the environmental work is not done and he can’t say how long it will take or whether it might be hypothetically possible for the resort to open before summer is over.
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Some issues the report is expected to address include the additional traffic the resort will draw up narrow Ospital Road from Highway 26, the use of concrete and cobbles to pave stream beds that were once home to local amphibian species, and whether irrigating the resort will deplete groundwater supplies for neighbors.

The number of Army Corps of Engineer Nationwide Permit violations alone may keep this course from opening anytime soon.

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