Settlement stops land split at Buttes

A two-year battle over a subdivision near the Sutter Buttes has ended in a settlement that erases the land split.

The Yuba Historical Society called off its court fight with Sutter County, Sutter Buttes Ranch LLC and landowners Pramod and Lucy Kumar, a struggle that began after county supervisors in December 2007 approved the Kumars' plans to carve 897 acres around the buttes into 13 parcels. Supervisors signed off on the compromise in closed session Tuesday.

The pact sets aside that approval and requires the couple to submit a new application for any future land split, which the nonprofit historical society feared would hasten development that would threaten the area's cultural and scenic qualities.

The conflict began when a divided county board allowed the Kumars to subdivide their lands into parcels ranging from 21 to 82 acres.

A month later, the historical society filed a complaint in Superior Court to block the land split, saying the county approved it without requiring an environmental impact report violated its own general plan, which includes a section on preserving the buttes. The Marysville-based group also opposed a variance that allowed the split even though all but two of the 13 parcels would have lacked access to county-owned roads, a normal zoning requirement.

The Kumars denied any building plans for the land and said the split was for estate planning purposes.

Several attempts by the Kumars and the historical society to negotiate a conservation easement on the land broke down over the past two years, according to court records.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Howard Yune at 749-4708 or hyune@appealdemocrat.com.