A deal that would allow California’s Lytton Band of Pomo Indians to put land in Windsor, Sonoma for tribal use— but not for a casino—is near to completion.
The Lytton band has sought to put land into trust in its traditional homeland for 15 years. Several months ago the Sonoma Board of Supervisors negotiated a deal with the tribe that would provide services and infrastructure in return for the tribe paying a one-time fee of $6.1 million.
Also the tribe will build an aquatic center for Windsor.
In addition Rep. Jared Huffman has proposed a bill in the House of Representatives that would permanently prevent the tribe from putting a casino on the land once that agreement expires at the end of 22 years.
In a separate but related development, the Sonoma Board of Supervisors last week signed a revised agreement with the Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians that extends a moratorium on the tribe building a casino in Petaluma for another 10 years.
The tribe owns 277 acres of vacant land near the city. The county has worried for over a decade about the possibility of the tribe building a casino on the land. The deal also prevents the tribe from trying to take this land into trust.
The deal is the result of declining revenue at the tribe’s River Rock Casino in Geyserville, which has been severely impacted by the opening of the Graton Casino in Rohnert Park. The decline in revenue caused the tribe to miss its impact payments to Sonoma County. In return for agreeing to the moratorium, the county agreed to lower the tribe’s payments from $3.5 million annually to $750,000.
