Project Timeline

Timeline of Program and Parcel Purchases

2021-2022

• July 2021 – Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program created (legislation link) to “award competitive grants to qualified entities to construct, acquire, and rehabilitate real estate assets or to invest in needed mobile crisis infrastructure to expand the community continuum of behavioral health treatment resources…” with Section 5960.3. of this bill permits any funded project to over-ride any applicable local zoning or requirements.
• Oct 2021 – California Bill AB 172 passes, establishing the Community Care Expansion Program – AB 172 Sec 27 Chapter 20 of this bill permits any funded project to over-ride any applicable local zoning or requirements.
• Jan 2022 – CCE/BHCIP Round 3 Launch Ready – Launch Ready Part One is intended for entities that can submit the application and necessary materials by March 31, 2022. The deadline for Launch Ready Part Two is May 31, 2022
• April 1, 2022 – 966 Best Life Way in Shingle Springs purchased by HomeCA for $450K
• April 14, 2022 – 3480 Deer Valley Court purchased by Gr Berkshire Capital Trust for $350K
• April 18, 2022 – 966 Best Life Way in Shingle Springs transferred to Gr Berkshire Capital Trust
• May 2022 – 3335 Deer Valley Court purchased by Gr Berkshire Capital Trust for $260K

2023

• Feb 2023 – NDI/HomeCA perform a “blessing” on Rescue parcels to “consecrate the land.”
• Sept 2023 – NDI/HomeCA sign Program Funding Agreements (PFAs) with support from Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Holly Clifton and Marlies Perez, both in charge of the Behavioral Health and Continuum Integration Program (BHCIP)
• Oct 2023 – HomeCA Gina Wasdyke discussion with neighbor on a Deer Valley Ct parcel – Gina stated the project is“senior assisted living homes…and will have 15 beds on 3480 Deer Valley Court, and 16 beds on 3335 Deer Valley Court.” This is the first time any neighbor heard first hand knowledge that two large facilities were being planned for these parcels.
• Nov 2023 – 3335 Deer Valley Court parcel is masticated to cut down brush and trees in anticipation of development.
• Dec 2023 – Initial discussion with Supervisor Parlin. She understood our situation and will investigate further during Jan/Feb 2024.

2024

• Jan 2024 – GoFundMe donation fund created. Signs printed and installed on Deer Valley Road access points. Petition created on Change.ORG.
• Jan 16, 2024 – Petition reached 564 signatures in 4 days. Petition closed. Focus shifted to community outreach to elected officials.
• Jan 30 – El Dorado County Board of Supervisors Meeting reviewed this topic. Unanimous agreement to submit a letter to Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil requesting the Department of Health Care Services investigate this proposed project. Link to full meeting video here; Link to meeting minutes as well as submitted content and final letter here.
• Feb 2 – Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil make statement of intent to work with Dept of Health Care Services here. “As a proponent of local control over land use, I hear and share the concerns of El Dorado County leaders and neighboring residents surrounding several proposed substance abuse treatment centers in Rescue and Shingle Springs. As Chair of the Senate Human Services Committee, I am contacting the Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS) and the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), the state agencies that are providing funding for these projects, to ensure that concerns related to the community impact are able to be fully mitigated before they proceed.”
• Feb 7 – El Dorado County Board of Supervisors send a letter of concern (link) to Senator Alvarado-Gil and Assemblymember Joe Patterson relaying community and county concerns regarding these proposed developments.
• Feb 7 – Assemblymember Joe Patterson sends letter (link) to EDC BOS concerning this issue, and highlighting his office is also reaching out to DHCS.
• Feb 12-13 – News articles published (full articles here) concerning Native Direction responses to EDC BOS meeting (Mountain Democrat), and review of arguments by Sac Bee. Both articles had significant “half-truths” and misstatements. Our rebuttal noted on our webpage link.
• Feb 21 – HomeCA submits Grading Permit to EDC Planning and Building Dept for Perinatal facility on 3335 Deer Valley Ct.
• March 1 – Rescue Deer Valley submits letter of concern (link) to County Planning/Building Dept regarding grading permit application for 3335 Deer Valley Court requesting the County to require more detailed reviews prior to approving any permits for these facilities.
• March 20 – DHCS/DSS Letter of response (link) to Senator Alvarado-Gil copy delivered to Rescue Deer Valley per Freedom of Information Act request (here) stating “for BHCIP and CCE projects to progress, awardees are required to work within their local jurisdiction to obtain necessary permits through local Planning and Building Departments and meet relevant zoning requirements to ensure programmatic and local requirements are met.“
• March 29 – HomeCA/Native Directions requests a letter of support from El Dorado County, which Supervisor Parlin declines. This request, along with Supervisor Parlin’s response, and Chris Silva initial response, is located here.
• May 3 – EDC Planning / Building department sends list of concerns to HomeCA/Ultimax Builders concerning the grading and building permit applications. Full letter here.
• May 17 – HomeCA/Native Directions lawyer (Robert Naylor) sends a response to EDC (Garner/Parlin). Full letter, and subsequent response from Rescue Deer Valley, here.
• May 21 – Senator McClintock send a letter to DHCSS/CDSS Directors to state his concern with the proposed development in Rescue. The letter states “The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors have unanimously opposed this proposal and the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians have also strongly opposed it. So, I hope that you will recognize the importance of local consent for these types of decisions and relocate these treatment centers to a more suitable location.” Full letter is here.
• June 4 – Rescue Deer Valley sends a letter of response to HomeCA/NDI position in their May 17th letter. Full response here.
• June 7 – EDC legal counsel, David Livingston, responds to HomeCA concerning their stated intention to disregard zoning and self-declare exemption from CEQA. Full letter here. Summarizing –
  • Zoning Compliance Inquiry: The County is seeking clarification on how the proposed project complies with local zoning requirements, referencing a statement from DHCS and CDSS directors.
    CEQA Exemption Concerns: The County questions whether the project meets the conditions for a CEQA exemption, particularly regarding the increase in onsite development footprint and the requirement for a letter of support from a local public entity.
    Nonprofit Status Clarification: The letter clarifies that Native Directions and HomeCA, being nonprofit corporations, do not qualify as “local public entities” as defined in the Government Code.
    CEQA Review Process: The County cannot concur that the project is exempt from CEQA based on the current information and suggests initiating the CEQA review process.
• June 17 – Supervisor Parlin sends letter to HomeCA correcting numerous misstatements from previous HomeCA correspondence with EDC. Full letter here.
• June 26 – Grading and commercial development permits applied for on 966 Best Life Way in Shingle Springs. Permit numbers 0339172, 0376039 and 0376040.
• June 26 – HomeCA responds to Supervisor Parlin letter correcting misstatements. HomeCA notes that grant timelines forced their hand to utilize the lands they owned in Rescue for the Perinatal facility. They also note that the grant does not allow them to secure different property for this facility. We hope to help the State modify this grant to support a different location. Full letter here.
• July 18 – Meeting with Elected Officials. A small group, representing Rescue Deer Valley and Concerned Citizens of the Tri-Communities met with Assemblymember Patterson, Supervisor Parlin, Sheriff Leikauf and a representative for Senator Alvarado-Gil’s office. We requested more direct action with DHCS/CDSS to get these facilities stopped or moved. No promises were made, but all of these officials were taking our concerns seriously and discussing ways they could help.
• July 22 – HomeCA meets with Supervisor Parlin concerning her, and El Dorado County’s, concerns regarding this development. Notes here. From our interpretation of the notes not much was accomplished as EDC is awaiting legal response from HomeCA/Native Directions. HomeCA did admit that they are new to projects of this size/scope. We expect, and will continue to request, the county continue to pursue CEQA evaluation prior to granting any permits.
• July 26 – HomeCA writes a response to Supervisor Parlin’s meeting notes published on July 22nd. The written response ignores the issues surrounding the mismatch of zoning and the scale of these commercial developments. HomeCA has published details of the Perinatal Center construction on their website. Their published information continues to sugarcoat the facilities intent and highlights instead the $11M construction. Let’s not forget that this perinatal facility is focused “on those suffering from drug or alcohol addiction, and those who have been incarcerated previously and are homeless now or have been before.”
• August 22 – Assemblymember Patterson, along with Senator Alvarado-Gil, sent a letter to the State Department heads who funded the Perinatal Center on 3335 Deer Valley Court (2761 Sands Rd). The Assemblymember and Senator continue to emphasize the serious community concerns regarding these developments and request these departments resolve these concerns. Our elected officials all agree that these facilities do not make sense in this location. We all want these developments stopped, and if possible, moved more appropriate communities, where they can locally serve the disenfranchised people these facilities are targeting.
• Sept 9 – HomeCA/NDI sent letter to Karen Garner concerning “Wellness Center” on N Shingle Road describing their narrative of the facility and highlighting fire safety measures for this facility.
• Sept 19 – HomeCA/NDI sent letter to Karen Garner covering outstanding issues related to their permit request. They are requesting EDC Planning Dept to file a “Notice of Exemption” for CEQA.
• Sept 25 – HomeCA/NDI respond to EDC Counsel David Livingston letter from June 7. They request ability to obtain permits direct from Karen Garner (Planning Dept) without legal responses.
• Oct 17 – Rescue Deer Valley sends response to EDC officials regarding recent communications from HomeCA/NDI to EDC. Response reinforces our request to deny any permits for these projects and we discuss some misleading information in the letters from HomeCA/NDI.
• Nov 6 – HomeCA/NDI sends a letter to Aaron Mount, EDC Planning Mgr, requesting EDC to provide CEQA self-certification waiver per WIC 5960.3, again ignoring the conditions in 5960.3b (5, 9) the county correctly identified that provide the legal responsibility of the county to ensure community and patient safety on these proposed commercial facilities.
• Dec 17 – HomeCA/NDI writes another letter of response to Supervisor Thomas and Karen Garner emphasizing their request for CEQA exemption from the county (LINK). They include a letter from the Chair of the Native American Caucus for the CA State Legislature asserting that AB 133 provides them legal coverage for their request. Both of these letters ignore the key questions asked by EDC Counsel, David Livingston, regarding the conditions of CEQA requirements laid out in the legislation that actually funded this project (LINK).
• Dec 20 – Rescue Deer Valley (RDV) sends written response (link) to Karen Garner, David Livingston reinforcing that these projects are not suitable for these parcels and should be denied by the county.
• Dec 30 – Permits applied for in Dec for 3480 Deer Valley Ct – Bridge Housing SUD treatment center for 30 patients. Permit #0380586 – Site Improvement and Permit #0380585 – Commercial grading.

2025

• March 12 – Numerous Rescue Deer Valley members receive a Certified Mail letter from 6beds.org promoting the construction and operation of the proposed commercial SUD facilities. LINK to full letter text and rebuttal.
• May 25 – EDC receives written opposition to these proposed projects from El Dorado County Sheriff Jeff Leikauf and Chairwoman Regina Cuellar of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians. Blog post and full letter available here (LINK).
• Sept 5 – Native Directions hires legal representation, Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger, LLP, a San Francisco-based law firm that specializes in CEQA law. Gabriel Ross, attorney, sends a demand letter to EDC requesting permit approval by Sept 19, 2025 or face immediate legal action. Full letter here.
• Sept 16 – EDC BOS hold a closed session to discuss potential litigation from Native Directions. Rescue Deer Valley sends public comment requesting the BOS uphold their current position and ultimately decline these project permits. RDV full public comment here. Blog post referring to another significant public comment here.
• Sept 19 – EDC Legal Counsel, David Livingston, sends reply to Native Directions/HomeCA legal threat letter. Full letter here. EDC reply mirrors Rescue Deer Valley interpretation of the law and subsequent letters from pertinent State Agency leaders. RDV sends blog post to the community concerning the County’s response (here).
• Oct – Superior Court of EDC rules that CCE-funded projects must be treated as “ministerial” and County has not discretionary authority. Based on this Court has required the County to proceed with permits for 3480 Deer Valley Ct and 3659 North Shingle Rd (ARF facilities). Details here.
• Oct 31 – RDV sent feedback to EDC Planning that Deer Valley Rd has inadequate access for emergency vehicles and as such developer should improve that road to modern requirements before permits are issued. Our email is here.