California city sued by state over Native American remains discovered at luxury housing project

POWAY, Calif. (CN) — The city of Poway, California, is in hot water with the state attorney general after the continued discovery of multiple Native American human remains at the site of a luxury housing project in north San Diego County.

The California Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court against the city on Tuesday. According to the attorney general’s office, the city has failed to enforce the state’s environmental review standards after the discovery of multiple human remains and thousands of cultural artifacts at the project site.

“Project development, environmental compliance and appropriate community consultation should go hand-in-hand,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said. “The discovery of an apparent burial site that served as a final resting place for some of California’s first inhabitants warrants appropriate caution and respect. This lawsuit, due to the ancestral remains and important tribal cultural resources on site, calls on the city of Poway to adhere to the rule of law and ensure that California’s development does not come at the expense of tribal communities.”

The developer, Shea Homes, began the Hidden Valley Ranch project in October 2025 and quickly encountered the remains of a cremated child at what appeared to be a tribal cemetery and sacred place that belonged to the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, the attorney general’s office claims in its complaint.

The attorney general says the city violated the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, after it moved forward with construction in light of the discoveries, failed to carry out required mitigation measures and failed to follow its own policies after discovering ancestral human remains.

Although Poway greenlit the project site’s environmental impact report in 2003 under a previous landowner, the attorney general’s office says CEQA requires additional steps to be taken when circumstances change or if new information is available, as was the case for Hidden Valley Ranch.

CEQA primarily deals with environmental quality standards, but it also includes certain requirements in the event that Native American remains are discovered within a project area, such as consultation with tribal representatives.

According to the attorney general, more than 8,000 cultural artifacts were discovered at the 420-acre development site over the last two decades, including hundreds of pottery fragments, dozens of specialized tools like hammers, semi-precious stones, carved bone and arrowheads.

Archaeological excavation of one of the sites at the housing project determined that it was “functionally a village,” Bonta writes in the suit.

Despite this, the state claims no tribal consultation was sought.

Two more ancestral human remains were discovered at the location last month, including a human jaw bone and cremated rib bones.

“San Pasqual Valley is a cultural heritage resource comprised of tribal ceremonial and funerary sites, and a living, interdependent ecosystem that connects us through our ancestors’ deep time and deep space practices of movement, pause, and return,” the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians Chairman Steve Cope said in a statement.

The San Pasqual Band is one of 12 federally recognized tribes that are part the Kumeyaay Nation, whose ancestral lands stretch between Baja California and San Diego and Imperial counties.

The tribe also filed its own separate lawsuit against the city on Monday.

“These suits do not seek to stop the project, but to ensure full consideration and redress of its adverse impacts, including on our heritage, ancestors, funerary items, environmental integrity, and culturally and religiously important resources throughout the area,” Cope said. “As we pursue these aims, San Pasqual is committed to fulfilling our sacred duties to our ancestors and to finding a fair and reasonable resolution for all parties."

The city of Poway said that it was blindsided by the lawsuit.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the city said that it had not been yet served with a lawsuit and that they didn’t know the specifics of the CEQA violation beyond what has already been reported in the media.

“The city of Poway takes this issue seriously and is confident it has complied with all applicable laws within its purview, including CEQA,” the city said. “The city remains, as it has throughout this process, willing and open to work with all stakeholders.”

The city maintains that all state and local laws have been followed and that a tribal monitor has been present at the project site daily.

The city also disputes the attorney general’s claim that it has not engaged with the tribal representatives or the state on the matter. The city says it immediately met with the San Pasqual Band’s attorneys at their request and has been engaged with the attorney general’s office as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

A stop-work order has been issued, the city said.

“We’re not stopping projects unnecessarily,” Bonta said. “We are asking cities and developers to comply with the law. At the California Department of Justice, we’re dedicated to elevating the voices of communities too often overlooked and ensuring environmental justice and tribal justice. We will continue to uphold laws such as CEQA as a cornerstone of both.”