Business owner and developer Travis Schneider stands beneath his partly built home in 2022. | Screenshot of file video by Andrew Goff.



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It has been nearly two years since developer and business owner Travis Schneider agreed to tear down the partly built family dream mansion he was building in the Walker Point subdivision northeast of Eureka and to remediate the damage caused by a series of permit violations. 

Why hasn’t it happened yet? 

Well, as you may recall, the California Coastal Commission took jurisdiction of the whole mess in March of last year after finding “substantial issues” with demolition and remediation plan that had been approved by the county. 

In response to an emailed inquiry about the status of the project, Coastal Commission Public Information Officer Joshua Smith said things are moving forward, albeit slowly.

“Staff continues to work on with the property owner on resolving the outstanding violations,” Smith said via email. “Staff is optimistic that this issue can be brought to the Commissioners by this summer.”

Schneider received a permit in 2018 to build an 8,000-square-foot home on about six acres atop a hill overlooking the Fay Slough Wildlife Area. But he was later found to have framed up a nearly 21,000-square-foot structure that’s visible from both Old Arcata Road and the Hwy. 101 safety corridor.

After county officials issued a stop work order on December 27, 2021, more permit violations were uncovered.

Screenshot of a Coastal Commission imagin showing that Schneider’s construction extended beyond the100-foot wetland setback line.

For example, Schneider had laid down an un-permitted access road within a wetland setback area; built a portion of the house within a 100-foot wetland setback; started construction without a building permit; failed to get a required septic permit; and removed vegetation, including native California blackberries, from the wetland area, which is home to a designated archeological site from a historical Wiyot village.

That incursion into the wetland setback area meant the project automatically fell under the jurisdiction of the California Coastal Commission, which had already warned the county that its teardown and remediation plan didn’t adequately address violations of the Local Coastal Plan nor adequately protect onsite coastal resources.

The Wiyot Tribe submitted a letter urging the commission to reject the county-approved plan and require a list of additional conditions, including for more participation from tribes and consultation with a qualified cultural resources manager. Two other Wiyot-area tribes — the Blue Lake Rancheria and the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria — have also been involved in negotiations on the project.

Last March, the Coastal Commission approved a resolution finding that the county-approved demolition and remediation plan didn’t adequately protect archaeological and tribal cultural resources or the nearby ESHA (environmentally sensitive habitat area). They also found that the plan raised substantial issues with the California Coastal Act and Humboldt County’s Local Coastal Plan.

Smith told the Outpost today that Coastal Commission employees are working to enable adequate tribal consultation this time around.

“Staff took care to ensure the process included all the tribes impacted by the violations and come up with a resolution that honors their historical connection to the land in question,” he said. “This process can take time, but staff believes it’s time well spent.”

No specific date has been set for the commission to consider the resolution. The agency is scheduled to meet in Pismo Beach in July, Calabasas in August and a yet-to-be-announced location here on the North Coast in September. 

Schneider and his family have reportedly left Humboldt County.

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