One American Indian tribe’s bold proposal for a massive new resort and casino in the ranch lands east of Windsor just took a baby step forward, in the form of a nearly 300-page “environmental impact statement” compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. You can check out the document here.
Officials from the bureau are asking the public to submit any input on the doc by Aug. 26. You can send your opinions to Chad Broussard, an environmental protection specialist for the bureau, at [email protected]. (Using the subject line “EIS Comments, Koi Nation Shiloh Resort and Casino.”)
There will also be a virtual public hearing at 6pm on Tuesday, July 30. Register here to attend.
The Shiloh Resort & Casino would be located on 69 acres of unincorporated land between Old Redwood Highway and the Shiloh Ranch Regional Park, currently quilted in vineyards. It butts right up against a Windsor neighborhood, so it has some nearby residents spooked.
A Pomo tribe from Lake County called the Koi Nation of Northern California reportedly bought the land for around $12 million a few years ago, and now they want to make good use of it. Here’s their proposal, from the new federal report:
The Tribe proposes to develop a casino-resort facility that includes a three-story casino, five-story hotel with spa and pool area, ballroom/meeting space, event center, and associated parking and infrastructure. The gaming component of the facility would be approximately 538,137 square feet and include 2,750 gaming devices with 105 table games. The hotel component of the facility would be approximately 268,930 square feet and consist of 400 rooms.
Approximately 5,119 parking spaces would be provided on the ground floor of the casino, as well as in a four-story parking garage and a overflow surface parking lot on the eastern side of Pruitt Creek. An enclosed clear-span pedestrian bridge would connect the parking garage with the casino-resort approximately 12 feet above Pruitt Creek. Other supporting infrastructure, including the proposed water treatment and wastewater treatment facilities would be located on the southeastern portion of the Project Site.
At first, their proposal seemed like a long shot — especially since some other tribes nearby that run their own casinos pushed back. But since then, the Koi have announced the support of “a broad coalition of 18 California tribal governments, several political figures and one key ally in state government — California Treasurer Fiona Ma,” the Press Democrat reports.
The Koi argue: “The property site is just over 10 miles from the Tribe’s historic lands within California’s Pomo territory. It gives life to negotiated treaty rights dating from the 1850s, undoing decades of woeful federal mistreatment.”
According to Sonoma County government officials, tribe leaders have asked the feds if their property can be “placed into trust to become sovereign tribal land.” The Koi application is still under review — but if it’s approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior, the county says it will “not have regulatory jurisdiction or decision-making authority” over whether the casino is allowed to open.
In any case, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs is going ahead with the environmental impact process.
Here’s some more info from the Casino.org industry mag:
Chad Broussard, an environmental protection specialist with the BIA, wrote in the abstract that the Shiloh Resort and Casino poses numerous environmental threats.
Broussard concluded that the destination would create potentially significant impacts to groundwater and biological resources, public services, traffic noise and congestion, wildfire hazards, and wildlife evacuation. But those concerns could be addressed, he said.
All potentially significant impacts would be minimalized or avoided with recommended mitigation measures,” Broussard wrote.
… The tribe is partnered with the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, one of the nation’s richest gaming tribes. While the Koi Nation would own Shiloh, the Chickasaws would manage the resort and share in its profits.
