The Barstow, California city council October 5 voted to amend an agreement with the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeño Indians for the tribe to build the Barstow Casino & Resort.
The amendment to the 2006 agreement removed a former development partner of the tribe: Barwest.
The agreement requires to tribe to provide infrastructure should it acquire the 40 acres and put it into trust. The casino proposal is controversial because the Los Coyotes band is based in San Diego County, more than 100 miles from Barstow, and other tribes contend they have no historical connection to the land.
For the land to be put into trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs would require a “two-step” determination for off-reservation casinos and would need the consent of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
