by Eric Sunswheat and Richard Johnson
    In November, Pinoleville Pomo Nation held two community meetings to explain their plans for a proposed casino to be located at the former Ken Fowler Auto site just south of Ackerman Creek on the west side of North State Street in the Ukiah Va
    Tribal Chairwoman Leona Williams explained their casino project had been in the works for years, that the tribe has a Gaming Compact with the state under the Indian Gaming Act of 1988. That compact authorizes the tribe to operate up to 900 gaming devices and requires the tribe to  pay the state 15% of its net win.  She said the casino would generate revenues for the tribe's social service programs: housing, eduction, vocational rehabilitation and so on.
    The meetings also featured Michael Canales and John Tang who were introduced as investing partners with the tribe in the casino project. Tang emphasized that gaming compacts expire and are renegotiated after 20 years,  so rapid development and sustained profitability were important.
    Pinoleville Pomo Nation plans to take out a $90 million bank mortgage loan to build the facility. Some 250  permanent jobs are projected, about the population of the rancheria.
    According to new FEMA flood level maps just released, the site is in a 100-year flood plain but the property is to be raised up to deflect water, presumably into the creek, according to the developers
    Many other environmental aspects of the project will be addressed in a draft Tribal Environmental Impact Report (TEIR) is to be available on  Pinoleville Pomo Nation's website, (http://70.90.171.169)  probably within 3 months, and the draft would be available for written public comment which would be published with the final TEIR.
    The TEIR fulfills the tribe's responsibility under NEPA, and the scoping and mitigations to be undertaken are completely within the tribe's discretion as a government separate from the state and county.
    There is material on the website now outlining the tumultuous history of the tribe and its government. There is a controversy among the Natives living on rancheria land over the membership in the Pinoleville Pomo Nation, the validity of the tribal government and the distribution of federal benefits. Not everyone there is registered as a member of the tribe.
    The tribal office is located at 500 Pinoleville Drive and Williams invited anyone with questions or concerns to to talk to her there.
    The tribe is required to negotiate with County of Mendocino about paying for impacts of the project, and an ad hoc committee for this purpose is made up of supervisors Brown and Colfax.  Differences between the Pomo Nation and the County over impacts would be subject to binding arbitration, and the project would move forward. If financing is available, ground breaking could begin late spring or early summer.
    The reservation or rancheria encompasses 92 acres from North State Street to west of Highway 101, as set in 1912 before the tribe's federal status was  was dissolved and members were given deeds so could sell their property. There now are many private inholdings on the reservation due to a period of termination of Indian Lands between 1966 and 1980. Because the US Supreme Court then reversed the policy of termination, and the land has been deeded to the United States in trust, any land within the 92 original acres may have a casino.  But the presenters promised  their Governmental Gaming and Resort Facility will be limited to just the 8.8 acres of the former Fowler site, which the tribe purchased back only three years ago.


Other Tribal Business
     The Tribe owns nearly 109 acres of non reservation winegrape land which wraps around part of Ukiah High School. It is paying to purchase Thatcher Inn in Hopland, receives quarterly payments from from California gaming tribes for being a non-gaming tribe , and currently makes monthly payments to reserve with an option to buy, the former Ken Fowlers auto center on North State St.
    It also is involved with financing the bar called Caught across the street from the project site at the corner of Kunzler Ranch Road.  Michael Canales is the owner of the bar.
    The Pinoleville tribe does not seek advice from other local gaming tribes, considering them competition, but has some association or alliance with Yurok and Hoopa, Indians or those Tribes in consultation or communion. There are 10 Pomo nations in Mendocino County, all with their own constitutions and governing bodies.
    There is another Pomo casino at Coyote Valley  only a few miles north along Highway 101. It's expansion project announced with great fanfare several years ago appears to be stalled.
    Pinoleville is inviting sphere of influence discussion with the City of Ukiah which might be with the city economic development planners because project is in Ukiah Valley. Alcohol sales is requested, which might prompt Mendocino County and Sheriff office comments to the ABC. A marketing wine symposium display in coordination with local vineyards to attract tourists is planned. Local breweries of Ukiah Brewing Company and Anderson Valley... were specifically mentioned to be showcased.
    At face value, the preliminary design drawing of the casino complex has mostly pavement and a large face of windows facing east which would be expensive to cool on hot summer mornings. The general contractor would sub out small portions to builders so that locals could work during the perhaps 18 months of construction. Construction work would be non-union, not at prevailing wages.
    Perhaps half the overall casino project would involve hotel and housing, perhaps half open to the public for paid overnight stay, perhaps half private for the Tribe, with perhaps 10K sq ft shiftable from private to public use. The Tribe has some involvement with UC Berkeley alumni, students, or staff, to create 1 or 2 units of sustainable housing with perhaps straw bale construction, so there is some hope for innovation in casino design.