POWAY, Calif. (CN) – The city of Poway, Calif., is in hot water with the state attorney general following the ongoing discovery of multiple Native American human remains at the site of a luxury housing project in north San Diego County.
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 failed to comply with state environmental review standards after the discovery of numerous human remains and thousands of cultural artifacts at the project site.
“Project development, environmental compliance and proper community consultation must 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 residents requires due care and respect. This lawsuit, because of the ancestral remains and important tribal cultural resources at the site, calls on the City of Poway to uphold the rule of law and ensure that California’s development does not come at the expense of tribal communities.”
The developer, Shea Homes, broke ground on the Hidden Valley Ranch project in October 2025 and soon came across the cremated remains of a child in what appeared to be a tribal cemetery and sanctuary belonging to the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, the attorney general’s office alleges in its complaint.
The attorney general says the city violated the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, after it continued construction in light of the discoveries, failed to perform required mitigation measures and failed to follow its own policies after the discovery of ancestral human remains.
Although Poway cleared the project’s site 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 new information becomes available, as was the case for Hidden Valley Ranch.
CEQA primarily deals with environmental quality standards, but also includes some requirements in the event that Native American waste is discovered within a project area, such as consultation with tribal representatives.
According to the attorney general, more than 8,000 cultural artifacts were discovered in the 420-hectare development site over the past two decades, including hundreds of ceramic fragments, dozens of specialized tools such as hammers, semi-precious stones, carved bones and arrowheads.
Archaeological excavation of one of the sites in the housing project determined that it was “functionally a village,” Bonta wrote in the lawsuit.
Despite this, the state claims no tribal consultation was sought.
Two more ancestral human remains were discovered at the site last month, including a human jawbone and charred rib bones.
“The San Pasqual Valley is a cultural heritage resource consisting of tribal ceremonial and burial sites, and a living, interdependent ecosystem that connects us through our ancestors’ deep time and deep space practices of movement, pause and return,” 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 belong to it The Kumeyaay Nationwhose ancestral lands lie between Baja California and San Diego and Imperial counties.
The tribe also presented its own separate lawsuit against the city on Monday.
“These lawsuits are not intended to stop the project, but to ensure full review and remediation of its negative impacts, including our heritage, ancestors, funerary objects, environmental integrity, and important cultural and religious resources throughout the area,” Cope said. “As we pursue these goals, San Pasqual is committed to fulfilling our sacred duties to our ancestors and finding a just and reasonable solution for all parties.”
The city of Poway said it was blindsided by the lawsuit.
In an emailed statement, a city spokesman said he had not yet been served with a lawsuit and that they did not know the specifics of the CEQA violation beyond what has already been reported. in the media.
“The City of Poway takes this matter seriously and is confident that it has complied with all applicable laws within its jurisdiction, including CEQA.” said the city. “The city remains, as it has done throughout this process, ready and open to work with all interested parties.”
The city maintains that all state and local laws have been followed and that a tribal monitor has been present at the project site every day.
The city also disputes the attorney general’s claim that it has not engaged with tribal representatives or the state on the matter. The city says it immediately met with attorneys for the San Pasqual Gang at their request and has engaged 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 are not stalling projects unnecessarily,” Bonta said. “We are asking cities and developers to uphold the law. At the California Department of Justice, we are committed to upholding the voices of too-often-ignored communities and ensuring environmental justice and tribal justice. We will continue to support laws like CEQA as a cornerstone of both.”
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