
Sailor John Sweeney Arrested in Point Buckler Island Controversy
Many Bay Area sailors know John Sweeney from his youth sailing championships, his development of the sponsored 11-Meter racing off Pier 39, America’s Cup racing, the America’s Cup IACC boats that raced the Bay, and cruising south in the Baja Ha-Ha. It’s been an inspiring sailing life. On Wednesday he was arrested outside the Solano County courthouse on a bench warrant (for failing to appear in court on related Buckler Island business) following the auction of his former property, Point Buckler Island. Sweeney purchased the 50-acre former duck-hunting island in 2011 and, over time, turned it into a private kiteboarding resort for wealthy members. The changes on the island became a flash point for the BCDC, the California Water Board, the EPA and more. The arrest follows a 10-year lawsuit in which Sweeney won and lost court cases, with the land finally being auctioned by the county.

There’s a lot to cover in a 10-year, multi-agency lawsuit, and even more questions were raised when the gavel fell at Wednesday’s auction. The auction was announced at a starting amount of $0, with bids to be raised in $100 increments. However, bidders and others were surprised to find that a previously arranged bid for $3.8 million was on the table from the John Muir Land Trust. As a result, the “public” auction ended before it began. SFGate described Wednesday’s auction, saying it “descended into chaos” as the surprise bid was revealed.
An article in the Daily Muck highlights lots of disturbing information on the history of the legal battle. The long history of the BCDC in the Bay Area is remembered for cleaning up a filthy, polluted Bay but evolving to torment many waterfront businesses with impossible demands and bureaucratic overreach. The Daily Muck story appears to be a thorough piece of investigative journalism, though it’s hard to find who’s behind the story.

The challenges developing his past successful business ventures pale in comparison to those faced in the 10-year battle with various government agencies. We spoke with Sweeney, who did refer us to both The Daily Muck and to a story in the Daily Republic from Fairfield. The collective stories paint a complicated picture of government agency process for what appear to be minor owner improvements. In the short term, with a 10-year legal history, it would be hard to draw conclusions without much more investigation, but Sweeney’s situation raises many questions about the process and the agencies involved.
Another government overreach
I know John I bought two sailboats from him 5 years ago
It’s a crime what the government can do to innocent people
Wow. Arrested ? By who ?
Once you step on land you lose all your
Mariner rights..
Sweeney is a potential Hero ..
10 years of fighting BCDC are overreacher
For sure .. it’s hard and expensive to
Fight organized self promotion.. you have saved the bay .. will it look better when all
The people are chased off .. and Zero access.. BCDC .. is lake medusa’s head of snakes you can’t possibly kill them all ..
Mark Sanders is the only one to Stand UP
To this 50 or 60 member board .,
Making decisions without going to site..
Pls let defund this old Bad Ideas broad.
Full of Unqualified Unsailorlike people from
9 bay county s .. who are planning dept ..
Park and recreation .. shills…. And only
1/2 come to meetings other half ..
There is Not one native indigenous person..
Zero Transparency.. it hard to fight a ever changing board with no office to have meetings.. these are Not Business People
Not shop owners, not boaters. Governing
Water .. There is No Accountability or transparency ..
when you do the minimum
It’s hard to distinguish that from
not doing anything at all.
All of theses board members are
City/county bureaucrats .. and get paid to attend .. they would be better if the walked shoreline and actually SEE what is needed..
Oh. How stupid. Walk shoreline.
The BCDC is just another example of a well intentioned CA agency that started as a needed regulatory board. Unfortunately it has morphed into a self serving, over reaching group. Possibly it is time to dissolve it or fire all existing employees and start over.
Needs to contact The Goldwater Institute..
Minor improvements they were not.
Look at the satellite history on google earth from around 2013. He built a levee and drained an island in the heart of Suisun Bay without any permitting or review.
It was a bold and audacious move – betting that it would be easier to ask forgiveness than permission. He knew the risks, and had run afoul of BCDC before. He was only able to buy the island for such a low price because everyone else accepted it was not developable and effectively worthless.
So, this is a good outcome. And it’ll dissuade other yahoos from buying up and developing other parts of the Bay.
FWIW, Pt.Buckler is a very pretty place, if you’re sailing up into the delta, it’s well worth detouring via the north side of Suisun Bay. You can anchor nearby, and it’s a killer place to play with wings and kites.
James seems miss informed if you read this it wasn’t about containers or me repairing a levee
https://dailymuck.com/fake-restorations-killed-californias-delta-smelt/
“The Daily Muck story appears to be a thorough piece of investigative journalism, though it’s hard to find who’s behind the story.”
Apart from the byline, author’s name and email address? What do you mean by this?
The only thing hard to determine is the motivations of the various government actors in this scandal. Johnson’s oyster farm all over again. A tragedy. And for what, exactly?
Thanks for pointing that out…we’re sure when we read the story, we searched for all that info and it wasn’t there. We swear it wasn’t. Was it added later or did we completely whiff? We cannot say as we tried to find a way to email the author and it couldn’t find it. It is as plain as day right now.