Rep. Jared Huffman has introduced a bill in Congress that would create a 500-acre reservation in Windsor, Northern California for the Lytton Rancheria. Although the 300-member tribe operates a Class II casino in San Pablo, it is still landless when it comes to housing and tribal offices.
The land would be used for housing, a resort hotel and a winery. The bill would forbid the land from being used for more gaming.
The tribe became homeless during a period in the 1960s when Congress was aggressively taking lands out of trust as it tried to end the reservation system. Recognition was restored 30 years later. It became prosperous after a separate act of Congress in 2010 put ten acres in San Pablo then occupied by a card room into trust.
A tribal spokesman says the tribe is hopeful the House bill will be approved although he conceded that its fate in the Senate was less certain.
The bill has no opponents from local government. Sonoma County’s Board of Supervisors has approved an agreement with the tribe for 147 homes, a 200-room resort and a winery. In lieu of the property taxes that the county would lose by the land being put in trust the tribe has agreed to pay a similar amount in fees. The tribe has similar agreements with the local fire and school districts.
The city of Windsor is not actively opposing the bill since its concerns about gaming have been addressed.
Some residents have formed a citizen’s group who oppose the fact that the bill and the governmental agreements were reached without citizen input or environmental studies.
