A tribe hoping to build the first casino in California’s Sacramento Valley is keeping its options open as to the exact location.
The casino would have 110,000 square feet of gaming space, and a 12-story hotel tower. It would be comparable to some of the largest casinos in Northern California.
One of the options that the Wilton Rancheria is preserving is to build on 28 acres next to the Outlet Collection at Elk Grove, referred to locally as the “ghost mall,” because it remains largely unoccupied.
Another option is on 282 acres in the unincorporated part of Sacramento County near the community of Galt.
The community of Wilton, is a third option, where the tribe has listed 75 acres as the possible site. This site, which is the tribe’s preferred option, was once part of the historic Wilton Rancheria. The tribe has applied to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to put this land into trust.
Wilton Rancheria Chairman Raymond Hitchcock said last week that the tribe isn’t ready to decide the casino’s location. He told the Elk Grove Citizen: “As the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (National Environmental Policy Act) process and environmental review has advanced, several factors with respect to the Elk Grove site have made it attractive from the tribe’s perspective,” he said. “At the site, there is already substantial infrastructure. The Grant Line (Road) freeway overcrossing, near the site, provides easy in and out access. The site contains water and sewer hookups. Electrical hookups are nearby. There are roads, curbs and gutters in place. In addition, the land is currently zoned for commercial use.”
Hitchcock said community input will be a strong factor. “We want to reach out to community organizations, citizens and businesses in Elk Grove to get their input and feedback before we can make a final decision on a location,” he told the Citizen.
According to an Elk Grove city council member the residents have given him all kinds of opinions about a casino. He said, “The community in Galt is very much divided, which is kind of the feedback I’ve received in Elk Grove of people who are for it and people who are against it.”
At a recent community meeting Elk Grove resident Silvia Rodriguez did not by many of the arguments in favor of the casino. “There needs to be a real economic justification,” she said, as quoted by Yogonet.
Councilman Steven Detrick stated the stark realistic facts of the case when he told the crowd, “A lot of people think we have the power to say yes or no. All we can do is say, ‘If you guys were to come here, these are the concerns.”
The tribe claims the casino could create about 1,750 jobs plus hundreds of construction jobs.
