UPPER LAKE — Plans for a fourth casino in Lake County are a step closer to becoming reality after federal approval that allows the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake to establish 11 acres of vineyard land as Indian lands.
The U.S. Department of Interior issued a finding of no significant environmental impact July 18, according to a Thursday press release. The approval was the last step in the Upper Lake tribe”s decades-long effort to regain its federally recognized status and restore its land base.
“This tribe has done a wonderful job of negotiating with the county and has worked hard to make sure we have a solid agreement. That said, we are all concerned about whether a casino will be beneficial to the community. But they are going to do their best to make sure that happens,” District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing said.
The proposed casino will be the second on the Northshore, which is in Rushing”s district. The tribe signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the board of supervisors in July 2006, agreeing to pay the county in lieu of property and transient occupancy tax.
“When land goes into trust, they (the tribe) are no longer subject to local taxes,” County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said.
Cox said the tribe agreed to pay the county the equivalent of what it would pay in taxes if the property were privately owned.
“The county stands to generate more revenues by assessing it as a casino and potentially a hotel than if it stayed a grape vineyard,” the tribe”s San Francisco attorney Robert Rosette of Rosette and Associates said.
The approximately 35,000 square foot casino will offer 349 slot machines, table games, a restaurant and a bar with a venue for live entertainment, according to Rosette.
“The plans shown to the county look like a very high-end facility,” Rushing said.
No date has been set for construction, according to Rosette, because the tribe”s focus is on negotiating a class three gaming compact with the state. The classification will allow Vegas-style gaming, according to Rosette.
Associate attorney Brendan Ludwick of Rosette and Associates said the tribe hopes to have a compact by the end of the year.
Tribal Chair Sherry Bridges said the tribe reduced its original application from 60 to 11 acres to allow the county to include the land in the Middle Creek Flood Damage Reduction and Ecosystem Restoration Project, a 1,600-acre wetlands restoration project in Upper Lake.
Procedural steps to put the land in trust that include a federal notification and placement on the federal registry are expected to take two months, according to Rosette.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
