The 130-member Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation in San Diego County, California, has announced plans for a 0 million 11-story, 300-room hotel and casino expansion. This is all part of a multi-phase development. The project will begin right after the New Year.
The first phase calls for the hotel, which, in a later phase will be joined by a second tower with another 300-rooms, plus 21,000 square feet of gaming floor which will allow 500 more slot machines, for a total of 2,500. The expansion will also include a 2,030 space parking structure, an upscale restaurant, spa, fitness center and two large swimming pools. It is expected to generate 1,000 construction jobs.
The project is spelled out in an EIS (environmental impact statement) that the tribe has released to the public.
The timeline for the second phase has not been announced.
Assistant Tribal Manager Adam Day told Yogonet: “It’s an economic development project that will help the tribe’s economy and will create hundreds of non-native jobs for the surrounding community, as well as expand our entertainment offerings.”
Although the County of San Diego has no legal rights to prevent the tribe from expanding, the County is complaining to the tribe that it threatens the area’s groundwater.
Darren Gretler, assistant director for the county’s Planning and Development Services wrote to the tribe last week complaining that the tribal environmental impact statement, “does not adequately evaluate cumulative and direct impacts to groundwater resources.”
The county is challenging the tribe’s statements on a number of issues, including impacts from the tribe’s sewage treatment as well as traffic impacts.
County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, whose district includes the East County where Sycuan is located, released a statement that she hoped the tribe and the county would be able to reach an agreement on off-reservation impacts. “The county has reached similar agreements in the past with Sycuan and other tribal governments to address issues like traffic, public safety and trail improvements,” she wrote.
Wally Riggs, chairman of the local planning group, an advisory group to the county, wrote: “It’s a massive project and will be extremely impactful to our community, more so than we’ve already been impacted.”
