Changes made to the proposed hotel by Cher-Ae Heights after public input; another townhall meeting in the works

New rendering of the proposed hotel by the Cher-Ae-Heights Casino

Different angles showing views of the hotel at the request of the California Coastal Commission

I reached out to David Tyson, Chief Executive Officer of the Trinidad Rancheria Economic Development Corporation about the proposed 100 room hotel behind the Cher-Ae Heights Casino.

In response to the concerns by the community, the Rancheria has made changes to the project. Mr. Tyson shared those changes and future plans.

An environmental assessment was published in September 2018. The document is on the Trinidad Rancheria website. Public comments on the project were received until the end of October, said Mr. Tyson. "We held a couple of townhall meetings," he said. "At those meetings, we had our development team and our new architect present." The new architect is TBE.  The Trinidad Rancheria has terminated their relationship with the former architect.

TBE took the public input and along with the Trinidad Rancheria development team made the following changes: "the hotel has one less story; the exterior design is different; the roofs are differently angled; there is different undulation," said Mr. Tyson. "We tried to soften the building and give it more of a Northwestern feel."

"We are almost done with answering comments received through the EIR and concluding that process. The information has gone to the Bureau of Indian Affairs which is the lead agency. The Coastal Commission has seen the written draft. This has been through regular consultations."

"Once we are done answering the comments, we will see if HARP (Humboldt Alliance for Responsible Planning) would like to have another townhall meeting."

Mr. Tyson said that public outreach had been done by the Rancheria about 8 years ago but that was a part of their strategic planning. "The outreach done in the last few months and now is specific to this project."

"I think we have made this project better for the physical environment and the community."