Great Blue Heron, Point Molate. Photo credit: Jack Scheinman
Point Molate was sold on August 29, 2022 for the sum of $400 (yes, four hundred dollars) to the Guidiville Rancheria, a Tribe of the Pomo Native Americans, and Upsteam Inc., the development partners with the Guidiville Rancheria.
This sale was required under a settlement of a lawsuit brought by the developers of a former casino proposal at Point Molate (now-defunct) against the City of Richmond that owns Point Molate.
According to Richmond's City Attorney David Aleshire, what was sold was not the entire site of Point Molate, but what are referred to as the four developable parcels which were outlined in the Settlement of the lawsuit: Guidiville v. City of Richmond in federal court.
After losing in court (more about that below) Richmond Mayor Tom Butt is complaining about some vast secret conspiracy sneaking around behind his back to stop his preferred luxury housing development at Point Molate.
Some secret?! The effort to get a park at Point Molate has been open, public and continuous for more than 20 years and has been brought up publicly before the City at virtually every opportunity over that time. Hundreds of speeches, comments, written letters and documents have been submitted by literally hundreds of Richmond and East Bay residents and groups in support of this. Point Molate is designated as a Park in the General Plan of the East Bay Regional Park District, plus Point Molate is designated as a park in BCDC's San Francisco Bay Plan - the blueprint for land uses around the Bay.
