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Consent-General Government # 9.
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| Board of Supervisors |
County Counsel |
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| Subject |
| Authorize a letter to the United States Department of the Interior raising procedural and substantive concerns with a request from the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians for a "restored lands" determination affecting land within the City of Vallejo. (No general fund impact) (Pogledich) |
| Recommended Action |
| Authorize a letter (Attachment A) to the United States Department of the Interior raising procedural and substantive concerns with a request from the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians for a "restored lands" determination affecting land within the City of Vallejo. |
| Strategic Plan Goal(s) |
Operational Excellence
Thriving Residents
Sustainable Environment
Flourishing Agriculture |
| Reason for Recommended Action/Background |
The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians is a Lake County tribe that is seeking to establish a gaming operation on 85 acres in the City of Vallejo. The tribe’s approach includes seeking a “restored lands” exception under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), which would establish a legal basis for taking its Vallejo property into trust (and thus, opening it up for gaming). The restored lands application is pending with the Department of the Interior and will likely be decided before the end of the calendar year. Various entities have sent letters raising concerns and objections, including the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation (Attachments B and C), the County of Solano (Attachment D), and the City of Vallejo (Attachment E).
Staff recommend that the County join these entities and support their procedural and substantive objections to the restored lands application. Some key reasons for this recommendation are as follows:
- The Department of the Interior provided no notice, public input, or participation opportunities in connection with the restored lands application, even though it presents significant community, land use, and government fiscal issues (see discussion in the City of Vallejo letter at pp. 1-2);
- The application apparently proposes an expansive (and unprecedented) interpretation of the restored lands exception, seeking federal approval affecting land located more than 80 miles from the Scotts Valley tribe's current reservation based on a “significant historical connection” argument that relies, in part, on contentions that some tribal members were once enslaved on a ranch located within the modern boundaries of the City of Vallejo (see Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation letter dated July 18, 2016 at pp. 7-8);
- Unlike the Scotts Valley tribe, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation has a well-documented ancestral connection to lands within Solano County, including documented cultural sites throughout Solano County and within the City of Vallejo (see Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation letter dated July 18, 2016, at pp. 2-3); and
- If the Department endorses this expansive interpretation, it will open the door to a wave of similar applications by tribes with an interest in locating gaming operations in urban centers far removed from existing reservation lands.
On these grounds, staff recommend that Board authorize the Chair to sign the attached letter. |
| Collaborations (including Board advisory groups and external partner agencies) |
| This item was prepared in consultation with the County Administrator's office and the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. |
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