The Pala tribe of Southern California is strongly opposing a nearly 800 home development that would be built almost literally in the shadow of the Pala Casino Resort & Spa, although off the reservation.
The developer of Warner Ranch, Ali Shapouri, who has been working to get the project through the San Diego County approval process for more than a dozen years, says it is unique because it would be built specifically to provide housing for the casino’s workers.
The tribe counters that the typical price for the houses Shapouri would build are far and away from what its workers could afford. The average salary of a worker at the casino is $55,000. The lowest a home would sell for on Shapouri’s development, he says, would be about $300,000.
This is one of several projects before the county Board of Supervisors seeking to amend the County’s General Plan, which was adopted in 2011. The project would be built near State Route 76, across the highway from the casino resort.
The Pala band claims the project relies on infrastructure that the tribe would provide, and since the reservation is sovereign, the County wouldn’t have the authority to require.
The Pala band has a fairly successful record in opposing projects it doesn’t like. For about twenty years it opposed a nearby dump proposal, delaying it until it was in a position to buy the land.
The Warner Ranch project would be on 513 acres with the entrance about 2,000 feet from the casino.
The tribe wrote the Board of Supervisors last year: “As the numerous comments provided by the Pala Band to the County concerning this issue have made clear, the County has no regulatory jurisdiction over activities on the Pala Reservation and the Pala Band has no obligation to allow residents of the Project access to areas of the Reservation except on public roads.”
