A federal judge has rejected what could possibly be the last challenge to a casino proposed by the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians in Madera County, California on 305 acres near Yosemite National Forest.
For 11 years the tribe has worked to be allowed to build a destination spa and resort casino. Standing athwart this proposal and trying to stop it from happening have been the casino watchdog group Stand Up for California, a consortium of area church groups, and a gaming tribe, the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians that already has a casino 30 mile away and fears the competition will cripple its operations.
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Chief Judge Beryl Howell wrote a 170-page decision. She noted that, “While the plaintiffs’ many concerns about the impending casino development are understandable, the law is not on their side.”
The judge also wrote, “To stop the casino from coming to fruition, opponents have initiated both state and federal litigation as well as statewide political efforts over the last seven-plus years, setting, in their own words, ‘high legal and political hurdles.’ ”
The judge rejected the plaintiffs’ claims that the Department of the Interior put land into trust in a region the tribe lacked historical connections to.
She wrote the department considered both the detriments and benefits of the casino. “The secretary acknowledged the negative impacts that the proposed casino would have on the surrounding community and determined that these negative impacts would not be, overall, ‘detrimental to the surrounding community,’ ” she wrote.
North Fork Tribal Chairman Maryann McGovran hailed the ruling: “After finally overcoming so many legal and political challenges, we are ready to start developing our project so that we can bring jobs and economic opportunity to our tribal members, the community and this region,” she said.
Cheryl Schmit director of Stand Up for California said her group would continue to oppose the casino. “The people of California have spoken loudly that they are behind us in this effort. Our attorneys are still evaluating the issues in this very lengthy judicial opinion, and we intend to appeal,” she said.
She was referring to the vote that happened two years ago when the voters of the state turned thumbs down the original compact reached between the tribe and the state.
The casino will be a somewhat rare off-reservation casino 36 miles from the tribe’s homeland. The tribe first applied to put the Madera land into trust in 2005. Putting land into trust off the reservation requires the so-called “two part determination” that includes the ascent of the state governor. The Department put the land into trust in 2011. That was the beginning of the many legal and political challenges to the action.
The tribe wants to build a casino resort with 2,500 slots, six bars, three restaurants, a food court, and a 200-room hotel.
Madera County, which has a population of about 151,000, currently has a jobless rate of 9.7 percent. The casino is expected to generate 750 construction jobs and to employ 1,500 fulltime workers.
“We knew this ruling was coming, and we just didn’t know exactly when,” commented Bobby Khan, director of Madera County Economic Development.
He told 30 Action News the casino could vastly improve the job situation. “It could change it dramatically, cause you’re looking at construction jobs when you start with the building of the casino. Then you’re looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 to 1,500 permanent jobs when the casino is built.”
Madera County Supervisor David Rogers, who has long fought the casino, noted the California referendum, Proposition 48 in which 61 percent of the voters rejected certification of the tribe’s gaming compact. “What happened to the rights for the people to have their voice? What happened to the 10th amendment, states rights? You’ve got a federal judge telling the state of California what can and can’t occur here,” he declared.
The Chukchansi tribe estimates that it will lose nearly 20 percent of the revenue from its Chukchansi Gold Casino to the new casino, although it doesn’t claim that it will be forced to close it.
John Peebles, attorney for the Chukchansi tribe, said the tribe would appeal. He predicted that more “off reservation” casinos would be the result of the decision.
“It’s a horrendous decision for Indian country in the effects this could have on them,” he said in a statement. “I think it’s going to have detrimental effects across the country.”
