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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPechanga_7.30.20211 Damaris Abraham From:Juan Ochoa <jochoa@pechanga-nsn.gov> Sent:Friday, July 30, 2021 1:59 PM To:Damaris Abraham Cc:Andrea Fernandez; Ebru Ozdil; Tina Thompson Mendoza Subject:[External]Pechanga Tribe AB52 Comments on PA 2021-13, North Elsinore Business Park [APNs: 389-220-003, -004, -005, -006] Attachments:PA 2021-13, AB52, City of Lake Elsinore (6.29.21).pdf Message from external sender. Use Caution. Dear Damaris Abraham,     This letter is written on behalf of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians (hereinafter, "the Tribe") a federally recognized Indian tribe and sovereign government in response to the AB 52 notice provided by the City of Lake Elsinore.     This email serves as the Tribe's formal request to begin consultation under AB 52 for this Project. Per AB 52, we intend to assist the City in determining the type of environmental document that should be prepared for this Project (i.e. EIR, MND, ND); with identifying potential tribal cultural resources (TCRs); determining whether potential substantial adverse effects will occur to them; and to develop appropriate preservation, avoidance and/or mitigation measures, as appropriate. CEQA, as amended by AB 52, requires the City to avoid damaging effects to the significance of a tribal cultural resource. As such, the preferred TCR mitigation is complete avoidance and the Tribe requests that all efforts to preserve sensitive TCRs be made as early in the development process as possible.     Please add the Tribe to your distribution list(s) for public notices and circulation of all documents, including environmental review documents, archaeological reports, development plans, conceptual grading plans (if available), and all other applicable documents pertaining to this Project. The Tribe further requests to be directly notified of all public hearings and scheduled approvals concerning this Project, and that these comments be incorporated into the record of approval for this Project.     The Pechanga Tribe asserts that the Project area is part of 'Ataaxum (Luiseño), and therefore the Tribe's, aboriginal territory as evidenced by the existence of cultural resources, named places, tóota yixélval (rock art, pictographs, petroglyphs), and an extensive 'Ataaxum artifact record in the vicinity of the Project. This culturally sensitive area is affiliated with the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians because of the Tribe's cultural ties to this area as well as our extensive history with the and other projects within the area.    As you know, the AB 52 consultation process is ongoing and continues until appropriate mitigation has been agreed upon for the TCRs that may be impacted by the Project. As such, under both AB 52 and CEQA, we look forward to working closely with the City on ensuring that a full, comprehensive environmental review of the Project's impacts is completed.     In addition to those rights granted to the Tribe under AB 52, the Tribe reserves the right to fully participate in the environmental review process, as well as to provide further comment on the Project's impacts to cultural resources and potential mitigation for such impacts.     The Pechanga Tribe looks forward to working together with the City of Lake Elsinore in protecting the invaluable Pechanga cultural resources found in the Project area. The formal contact person for this Project will 2 be Ebru Ozdil. Please contact her at 951-770-6313 or at eozdil@pechanga-nsn.gov within 30 days of receiving this consultation request so that we can begin the consultation process. Thank you.  Juan Ochoa, MLIS Assistant Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Pechanga Cultural Resources Department P.O. Box 2183 Temecula, CA 92593 Office:(951)-770-6308 jochoa@pechanga-nsn.gov CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: “This message and any documents or files attached to it contains confidential information and may be legally privileged. Recipients should not file copies of this message and/or attachments with publicly accessible records. If you are not the intended recipient or authorized agent for the intended recipient, you have received this message and attachments in error, and any review, dissemination, or reproduction is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please immediately notify us by reply email or by telephone at 951-770-6308, and destroy the original transmission and its attachments without reading them or saving them.”