Washoe Meadow controversy may be resolved with mediation

Washoe Meadows Community, which filed a lawsuit in November against the State Parks Commission and Department of State Parks for environmental studies inadequacies and statutory violations related to the unprecedented reclassification of a state park, has submitted a request for mediation.

This was done after the state filed its CEQA notice of decision following the Jan. 27 rehearing of Washoe Meadow State Park issues.

“Washoe Meadows Community is willing to proceed in good faith efforts to find a mutually agreeable solution. It would be a shame if this situation replicates the duration of the campaign that originally saved the parkland from development, a 12-year process that ended in 1984 with a state emergency statute and purchase of the area recognized as containing ‘unique and irreplaceable resources’,” the group said in a press release.