Gaining state approval for a Miwok casino near Hollister may be
more difficult than local government officials had originally
believed.
Hollister – Gaining state approval for a Miwok casino near Hollister may be more difficult than local government officials had originally believed.
After meeting with an aide to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, San Benito County Supervisor Pat Loe announced yesterday that Legal Secretary Peter Siggins had told her of three requirements that could complicate the California Valley Miwoks’ plans for a casino in San Benito County.
First on the list of regulations Siggins indicated to Loe was that the governor will consider the will of public officials over polls or other information gathered from the general public, she said. Local governmental bodies will also have to sign off on plans to mitigate economic and environmental impacts a casino could bring, and neighbors of the proposed casino site will be asked to vote on the issue, Loe said.
“I find this very encouraging information,” she said during the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday.
The requirements could complicate the process the tribe will go through to receive a gaming compact from the governor, as two of San Benito County’s governmental bodies already have opposed the project.
Anthony Botelho, the first supervisor to formally take a stance against the casino, said was excited to hear Loe’s report.
“I’d never heard any of those (requirements) before, but I thought that they were a good idea,” Botelho said. “I think it just cements the whole deal.”
California Valley Miwok Project Manager Gary Ramos couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.
A press secretary for Schwarzenegger’s office said Tuesday he knew the governor was looking for local support before approving gaming compacts, but did not know who specifically that support would have to come from.
While both the County Board of Supervisors and the San Juan Bautista City Council have taken official stances against the Miwoks’ proposed casino, the Hollister City Council still remains undecided.
If the three government bodies do not all end up with the same stance, Loe said, Siggins indicated the governor would then look at the general population’s position on the issue, although she added she did not know how he would go about collecting that information. In hopes of proving to the Hollister council and the governor’s office that the project does have supporters in San Benito County, the tribe and its investors put together plans to launch a phone survey in Spanish and English in February.
Schwarzenegger has said he will not negotiate gaming compacts with tribes outside of their indigenous areas without overwhelming local support. Because the California Valley Miwoks have not yet proven their ancestral ties to San Benito County, the county supervisors and San Juan council are hoping to show the support is not here with their resolutions against the project.
Ramos and tribe attorney Philip Thompson have both said the five-member tribe intends to prove its roots in the county, but have not said when or how.
Loe also announced at Tuesday’s meeting Siggins had told her that if and when a tribe did prove it had local support, it would have to prove all potential economic and environmental impacts would be sufficiently mitigated. This would require the local governmental bodies to sign off on a statement saying the casino mitigation plans met their standards.
Finally, Loe said, Siggins told her even after these first two requirements were met, the tribe would have to clear one last hurdle: The county would have to conduct an election among property owners in areas surrounding the project area to see if they approved of a casino coming in.
“He (Siggins) told me those three things are essential,” Loe said of the local government’s support, the approved mitigation plans and the surrounding property owners’ votes.
Proposed to sit on about 200 acres off of Highway 156 near the Hollister Municipal Airport, the California Valley Miwok tribe’s casino could be similar in size to Yolo County’s Cache Creek casino, which is 66,000 square feet with over 2,000 slot machines.
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at jq*****@fr***********.com.
