Notice of Appeal from Protect San Benito County pauses expansion of the Red Barn

MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) -- Expansion use permits for the Red Barn has hit a temporary snag with Protect San Benito County appealing the project, according to the County of Monterey.

A Notice of Appeal was officially filed to the county on December 11, 2024 and acknowledged on December 20. The group identifying themselves as "non-profit conservation organization and individuals concerned with impacts to wildlife."

This is not the first time that the project has been delayed.

According to the 26-page document (embedded below), Protect San Benito County believes that the County Planning Commission's decision to approve the expansion was not supported by evidence, and that the decision violates the law.

"The Planning Commission erred in approving this project based only on a negative declaration under CEQA," wrote Protect San Benito County in the document. "There is substantial evidence in the record that the Project will have significant unmitigated impacts on biological resources, including special-status species. An EIR is required."

The group says that the Red Barn expansion project "will have significant impacts on biological resources in the area that were not disclosed, evaluated, or mitigated in the Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration ("IS/MND") that the County has prepared."

Protect San Benito County consulted a third party scientist, biologist Scott Cashen, M.S., to assist in the evaluation and make recommendations for the county.

Inaccurate Impact Determinations, Potential Impacts on Special-Status Species, Environmental Degradation, Human Activity and Light Pollution and Deficiencies in IS/MND Analysis were all among the reasons for Cashen's suggestion to halt the project for an official environmental impact report (EIR).

"Under these circumstances, preparation of an EIR si required," wrote Protect San Benito County in the appeal document. "The Planning Commission should therefore decline ot approve the requested Use Permit amendments and this time, and should instead direct Staff to initiate the process to prepare na EIR for the Project."

Read the document's details below.