20-03-2025
Bakersfield VA clinic faces new setbacks, legal challenges
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A new Veterans Affairs clinic for Bakersfield is facing new setbacks even as a court hearing is scheduled for June over an appeal to an environmental impact report.
The hearing, scheduled for June 20 in Kern County Superior Court, is over an appeal of the City of Bakersfield's approval of the project's EIR — environmental impact report. The city approved the project in 2023.
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The environmental impact report is being challenged by the groups Progress for Bakersfield Veterans and Friends of the Bakersfield Kit Fox.
The groups say SASD Development, which was awarded the project contact by the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2018, failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.
Progress for Bakersfield Veterans — in effect — is a front for Cardinal Equities and Beverly Hills developer Peter Cohen, who owns the land where the VA clinic currently sits.
17 News previously reported, Cardinal Equities receives as much as $400,000 a month from the Veterans Affairs department to lease the property. There are also now two federal lawsuits challenging the project.
The plaintiff is Shawn Smallwood, a professional ecologist and wildlife photographer from Davis.
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Smallwood is suing both the VA and SASD Development alleging they ignored evidence that the property where the clinic would be build is habitat for the San Joaquin Valley kit fox. The kit fox is currently protected by the Endangered Species Act.
Alan Fenstermacher, who represents the project's developer says it could take several more years in court before all three lawsuits are settled, one way or another.
Fenstermacher and veterans who support the project, say the litany of legal challenges against the new VA clinic are a glaring example of environmental 'green mail' — broadly described as using environmental regulations as a means of extortion.
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