The latest — and seemingly only — movement in the city of Richmond’s effort to develop and revitalize Point Molate’s shoreline is happening in Contra Costa County Superior Court.
On June 9, legal counsel for Winehaven Legacy LLC, the developer that was poised to build thousands of homes in a perpetually delayed $45 million project, asked court officials to grant a temporary restraining order to prevent ownership of the 270-acre property from being transferred.
The short-term order was granted the same day, according to court documents.
The land is currently set to be sold to the Guidiville Tribe of Pomo Indians and its developer, Upstream Point Molate LLC, for $400, after the Richmond City Council voted May 17 to scuttle Winehaven’s plans to build 1,450 homes and 400,000 square feet of commercial space.
That bargain land sale was outlined in a 2018 federal settlement agreement, after the tribe sued the city in 2012 for rejecting its proposal to construct a mega-casino complex “with more slot machines than all the casinos on Lake Tahoe’s south shore” at Point Molate.
Winehaven is suing because they feel their project, which was first approved in Sept. 2020, was illegally killed in bad-faith — an allegation a majority of city officials refute.
Garet O’Keefe, the tribe and Upstream’s attorney, told this news organization that Winehaven’s request and the short-term restraining order “was expected.”
“Until (the court) has a chance to evaluate the issues after a more complete briefing between the city and Winehaven,” O’Keefe said, “this is normal.”
O’Keefe said he was still waiting to receive the order from the city on Thursday, but expects to return to court for a hearing on the matter within the next 30 days.
These newest legal filings arrived two weeks after Winehaven filed a lawsuit seeking $20 million in damages and the right to buy the storied shoreline property.
According to the 19-page complaint, the Irvine-based developer wants a jury to decide whether the council acted in bad faith and breached agreements when it voted 5-2 in May to not move forward with its plan to revitalize Point Molate, which has acted as a former Naval fuel storage site, an immense winery and a centuries-old fishing haven. Winehaven’s suit alleges that the November 2020 election produced a new council majority that “engaged in protracted delays and stall tactics” that led to the development agreement’s unraveling.
Four of the council members who voted against the project – known as the Richmond Progressive Alliance – did not believe Winehaven could pencil out the project without requiring even more city funding.
Winehaven and the city are scheduled to appear in court over the lawsuit Sept. 19, according to court documents.
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