CA AG Bonta sues City of Poway alleging CEQA violations involving discovery of ancestral remains and tribal cultural resources

 

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has filed a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court against the City of Poway and Poway City Council alleging CEQA violations involving discovery of ancestral remains and tribal cultural resources.

AG Bonta statement:

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a lawsuit against the City of Poway alleging that the city violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by failing to respond appropriately to new and substantial discoveries of multiple distinct burials of ancestral human remains and significant cultural resources during the construction of a luxury housing project. When the developer, Shea Homes, began active construction of “Hidden Valley Ranch” in October 2025, it quickly encountered ancestral remains and other culturally important Tribal resources on land the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians (San Pasqual Band) now believes is likely a Tribal cemetery and sacred place. CEQA analysis in the form of an environmental impact report (EIR) was completed for the previous landowner in 2003, but CEQA can require additional steps when there are significant changes in circumstances and new information at the time that a lead agency takes discretionary action, as is the case here. The City of Poway has failed to engage with Shea Homes or the San Pasqual Band to revise the EIR despite these discoveries. In the lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta alleges — in light of the highly consequential unanticipated discoveries — that the city violated CEQA by failing to reopen review of the project before taking recent action to allow construction at the site, failing to adequately implement mitigation measures adopted in the 2003 EIR, and failing to comply with its own city policies applicable to the discovery of ancestral human remains.  

“Project development, environmental compliance, and appropriate community consultation should go hand-in-hand. The discovery of an apparent burial site that served as a final resting place for some of California’s first inhabitants warrants appropriate caution and respect,” said Attorney General Bonta. “This lawsuit, due to the ancestral remains and important Tribal cultural resources on site, calls on the City of Poway to adhere to the rule of law and ensure that California’s development does not come at the expense of Tribal communities. Let’s be clear: We’re not stopping projects unnecessarily; we are asking cities and developers to comply with the law. At the California Department of Justice, we’re dedicated to elevating the voices of communities too often overlooked and ensuring environmental justice and Tribal justice. We will continue to uphold laws such as CEQA as a cornerstone of both.”

“The San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, a federally recognized and sovereign Indian nation, seeks to protect San Pasqual Valley and its People - ‘Emuu Kallkall - Pamuu - Ewiiy Hellyaa - Paawii - (which incorporates the City of Poway in San Diego County, California), the ancestral and reservation lands of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians," said Steve Cope, Chairman of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians. "San Pasqual Valley is a cultural heritage resource comprised of Tribal ceremonial and funerary sites, and a living, interdependent ecosystem that connects us through our ancestors’ deep time and deep space practices of movement, pause, and return. These suits do not seek to stop the project, but to ensure full consideration and redress of its adverse impacts, including on our heritage, ancestors, funerary items, environmental integrity, and culturally and religiously important resources throughout the area. As we pursue these aims, San Pasqual is committed to fulfilling our sacred duties to our ancestors and to finding a fair and reasonable resolution for all parties."

The Kumeyaay Nation is an Indigenous people who have called San Diego County home since time immemorial. The Nation’s ancestral lands span from Baja California in Mexico into San Diego and Imperial Counties from the Pacific Ocean to the mountains and desert. Within the United States, the Kumeyaay Nation includes 12 federally-recognized sovereign Native American Tribes, including the San Pasqual Band and the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians (Viejas Band). The Kumeyaay Nation has elected to be notified of ancestral human remains identified within California through a consortium body of which both the San Pasqual Band and the Viejas Band are participating members. On April 17, 2026, the San Pasqual Band informed the city of its intent to file a CEQA petition.

CEQA contains important procedural requirements to ensure that lead agencies revise their prior environmental analysis, in the context of new discretionary approvals, when significant changes in the circumstances surrounding the project occur. CEQA also requires agencies to adopt feasible and enforceable mitigation measures to lessen a project’s significant environmental impacts, including on Tribal cultural resources. 

The circumstances here are extraordinary: ancestral human remains have been found on the property three times, and important Tribal cultural resources have also been unearthed to date. Despite this, the City of Poway did not reopen CEQA review or consult with the San Pasqual Band regarding these discoveries. In 2003, the city certified an EIR for this project, but in the more than 20 years since obtaining CEQA approval from the city, the original landowner did not commence ground-disturbing activities. Decades later, Shea Homes acquired the land and prepared for construction while Tribes in the area began to raise concerns. In October 2025, shortly after development commenced, a Viejas Band Tribal monitor found an ancestral human bone protruding from the earth. In March 2026, two more ancestral human remains were discovered in separate places on the property. In addition to the Tribe’s ancestors, thousands of Tribal cultural resources and culturally significant items have been found across the site over the years, indicating that the site was likely a village. The city took no steps to consider revising the prior EIR despite the changed circumstances and new information.  

In the lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta argues that the City of Poway violated CEQA by failing to:

Reopen CEQA review, despite several occasions to do so, after the changed circumstances and new information appeared, including the discovery of multiple Tribal ancestral human remains and important Tribal cultural resources at the site.

Implement its own policy, adopted pursuant to CEQA, for the handling of unanticipated discovery of archaeological resources.

Implement mitigation measures adopted in the 2003 EIR. 

Attorney General Bonta is committed to protecting the rights of California’s Tribal communities in the CEQA process. Last year, he intervened in a lawsuit challenging San Benito County’s approval of the Betabel Commercial Development without proper Tribal consultation. Attorney General Bonta also filed amicus briefs in support of the Koi Nation in litigation against the City of Clearlake — first in October 2023 and then in July 2024 — arguing that the city’s Tribal consultation did not meet the statutory requirements. In July 2022, Attorney General Bonta sent a CEQA comment letter that raised concerns regarding Riverside County’s analysis of a project’s Tribal cultural resource impacts.