Federal Judge: Golf Operations at Trinitas Must Halt by Jan. 27

By The Record
November 23, 2011

MODESTO – A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge this week posted an opinion in which he found the 280-acre Trinitas golf course near Burson a “public nuisance” and ordered golf operations there to cease by Jan. 27.

The 65-page opinion by Judge Ronald Sargis criticized Trinitas owners Michael and Michelle Nemee for being “sophisticated” business professionals who spent millions on a scheme to illegally build a golf course on ranch land in Calaveras County zoned for agriculture and then seek permission later.

That scheme, Sargis said, ultimately failed. “The Plaintiffs may not like the decision of the Board of Supervisors on their land-use application, but they are not entitled to a different decision because they gambled and developed the land for a commercial 18-hole golf course in the belief that they could convince a majority of the Board of Supervisors to make it legal after the fact.”

Read Thursday’s Record for more on this story by staff writer Dana Nichols here.