City Council reviews EIR, protests 'dinosaur bones' impact

By Mike Chaldu · Wed May 27 2026

Potential for 'paleontological resources' in soils to delay future development in parts of city concerns councilmembers

ATASCADERO — The Atascadero City Council had one general item to hear in its Tuesday, May 26, regular meeting, and it was to review and discuss city staff's Environmental Impact Report for the city's 2045 General Plan.

During the course of the review, one impact seemed to dominate conversation: The possibility that a project could "directly or indirectly destroy unique paleontological resources or sites or unique geological features" and require an additional study for new projects by paleontological experts. The impact would later be termed by Councilmember Susan Funk as the "dinosaur bones thing."

The EIR, one of the last steps in adopting the General Plan and available to the public for review until Thursday, June 4, was presented to the council by Community Development Director Phil Dunsmore and Planning Manager Kelly Gleason.

Dunsmore explained that the EIR was a required task to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and termed it a "substantial undertaking," at 900 pages plus various appendices.

"We need to demonstrate we’ve analyzed the impact on environment and disclosed it to the public," he added. "Mainly, we're telling people what potential things could happen."

The main part of the EIR was identifying potential impacts for future development within the city limits, and the document listed 98 impacts, split into three categories: Class 1 (significant and unavoidable), Class 2 (significant but mitigable), and Class 3 (less than significant).

Most of the impacts were considered Class 3, but notable mitigation was proposed for three of the items. One was the potential of greenhouse gas emissions (mainly motor vehicles and equipment) coming from the building and operation of new projects, which was categorized as a Class I. Proposed mitigation was the effort to update the city's Climate Action Plan to become carbon neutral by 2045, and to put in policy that would affect any future transit routes in the city.

Another was the potential increased demand for wastewater treatments caused by any new project. The EIR proposed a review of each new project for wastewater impacts, although the impact was classified as a Class 3.

However, it was the potential for a potential paleontological study impact that drew the attention of the City Councilmembers, and not in a positive sense.

Gleason said some soils in town containing the potential for paleontological resources, such as fossils. With that she introduced a map identifying areas in town (colored yellow) where that mitigation could be done.

Mayor Pro Tem Mark Dariz asked how the yellow spots and need for further analysis were determined. Dunsmore said they consulted with paleontologists; however, details were sparse because the consultants who were invited to the meeting did not show.

Funk went on to clarify the "paleontological resources" terms, asking "these are dinosaur bones we're talking about, right?" Dunsmore answered that, yes, dinosaur bones were a primary aspect of that category.

She then asked if have there ever been dinosaur bones in Atascadero, with Dunsmore replying there has been no evidence of paleontological resources, although he said the kinds of soils identified in the map were widespread across the county.

Another question from Funk asked, "Has technology gotten better that it has found smaller fossils, and are we able to find more now?" When Dunsmore answered yes, Funk expressed concern the "faint potential you might find a fossil some place doesn’t create obligation for every development to have to make an assessment, and whether it requires and need to get a consultant, and created opportunity for opponents to appeal. That can really slow up the development process."

In addressing the council's concerns, Gleason said many residences don’t go deep enough into the soil to require the study, and that staff’s goal is to limit types of studies unless they're very necessary.

Later on, during council discussion, Funk summarized her feelings on the paleontological resources topic.

"This dinosaur bones thing just drives me nuts," she said.

"It's a well-intentioned idea to protect special resources, but does not have a broad spread, and requires projects to stop and potentially create project-killing effect," she said. "How can we do less of this. This is how we layer on costs and make it difficult to do stuff."

Mayor Charles Bourbeau agreed with Funk and expanded to include his frustration with state requirements and the EIR process in general.

"Whether palentological or others, the state is contradictory," he said. "They want housing, but put up impediment after impediment. They say they want to encourage housing, but actions say otherwise. There is so much overkill in this EIR process."

Dunsmore told the councilmembers their comments would be entered into the final EIR, along with any public comments through the June 4 deadline, and the final EIR would be submitted in a meeting sometime in June.

The City Council will next meet on Tuesday, June 9, at 6 p.m.