Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), there are two types of projects: ministerial and discretionary. A ministerial project is one that requires no judgment, and consists of just simple check boxes, typically a one or two page form. A discretionary project is anything else, and all discretionary projects are subject to the requirements of CEQA.
Yolo County has developed an unlawful third option called Site Plan Review, whereby a company can pay a fee to Yolo County to find a way to claim that their project is not discretionary, but ministerial. This pay-to-play scheme is available to companies who want to avoid having to comply with CEQA. The Zipline Nest Z Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) airport is one of those projects where the company paid Yolo County to essentially buy a ministerial classification. This is unlawful.
Zipline Nest Z Project Description – This document describes the Nest Z Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) airport, located on the property of Yolo Land & Cattle Company. The document describes a project with 2,500 UAS flights per day across hundreds of acres of property, with the airport occupying about 5 acres plus a remote observation tower.
March 27, 2026 – Case No.: CV2025-0917 Motion to Compel – Yolo County has failed to certify the Administrative Record for the CEQA lawsuit. Mark Baker filed a Motion to Compel to have the Court direct Yolo County to certify the AR.
March 26, 2026 – Yolo County Grand Jury Report – Esparto Fireworks Explosion – This grand jury report exposes systemic dishonesty within Yolo County Board of Supervisors, Yolo County Planning Commission, and Yolo County staff, choosing to allow code violations to go unenforced.
February 6, 2026 – Notice of Exemption – Despite claiming that the Project is ministerial, Yolo County filed an NOE, which is part of the CEQA process. Within the NOE document, Yolo County claims that the Project is ministerial. However, the very act of filing the NOE means that the project is not ministerial. The project is now legally incoherent.
February 6, 2026 – Zipline Nest Z Project Approved Under Site Plan Review – Yolo County approved the Zipline Nest Z project as Ministerial, skipping the required CEQA process.
October 25, 2025 – Case No.: CV2025-0917 Mark Baker v. Yolo County – First Amended Complaint – Mark Baker filed a lawsuit against Yolo County for claiming that the Zipline Nest Z project is “Ministerial”, rather than directing Zipline to comply with CEQA.
October 9, 2025 – Planning Commission Meeting Video – This meeting can be viewed in its entirety here starting at the 2:24 mark. The Planning Commission voted 7-0 to use “weasel language” to declare the project as a “small experimental agricultural and seed research facility” to evade CEQA review.
October 9, 2025 – Yolo County Staff Report – This report was produced by the Yolo County as a result of the payment by Zipline for a Site Plan Review. The report contains a mini environmental analysis, demonstrating probable significant impacts on the environment and requests that the Yolo County Planning Commission make the determination as to whether the project can qualify as “ministerial”.
April 17, 2025 – Zipline Nest Z Site Plan Review Application – Zipline paid $4,874.58 to Yolo County to perform a Site Plan Review to avoid CEQA requirements.
February 14, 2025 – Eric May to Zipline Small Agricultural – In this letter, Yolo County Deputy Counsel Eric May makes the offer to Zipline International, Inc. that they can pay $4,874.58 to receive a Yolo County Site Plan review, which essentially means that Zipline can buy a “ministerial” classification for the Zipline Nest Z project and avoid the CEQA process.
December 16, 2024 – FAA Exemption No. 22475B – The FAA grants Zipline an exemption from the medical requirements for its on-ground pilots.
Yolo County Site Plan Reviews – Site Plan Reviews from 2021 to 2026