Gilroy
– Gaining state approval for a Miwok casino near Hollister may
be more difficult than local government officials had originally
believed.
Gilroy – Gaining state approval for a Miwok casino near Hollister may be more difficult than local government officials had originally believed.
After meeting with an aide to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, San Benito County Supervisor Pat Loe announced that Legal Secretary Peter Siggins told her of three requirements that could complicate the California Valley Miwoks’ plans for a casino in San Benito County.
Above all else, the governor will consider the will of public officials over polls or other information gathered from the general public, Loe said. Local governmental bodies will also have to sign off on the investors’ plans to mitigate potential economic and environmental effects of the project, and neighbors of the proposed casino site will be asked to vote on the issue.
Siggins’ comments begin to clarify Governor Schwarzenegger’s vague decree that he would not support any casino projects proposed by landless tribes without overwhelming support from the local community.
“I find this very encouraging information,” Loe said during the board of supervisors meeting Tuesday.
The governor’s emphasis on local government approval could complicate the process the tribe will go through, as both San Benito County supervisors and council members in San Juan Bautista have opposed the project.
The five-member California Valley Miwok tribe has teamed up with Game Won, a group of local investors that includes Gilroyans Joe Giacalone and Chris Vanni, in hopes of building a casino on 200-plus acres off Highway 156 by the Hollister airport. The casino would be similar in size to Yolo County’s Cache Creek casino, which is 74,000-plus square feet with 2,300 slot machines.
While the details of approval for a gaming compact come as news to some local officials, the tribe’s investors were less surprised.
Gary Ramos, project manager for the California Valley Miwoks, said the group was well aware of the need for approval from local government officials.
“We realized the people surrounding the project would have to approve,” he added.
Ramos dismissed rumors that investors have lost confidence and are beginning to pull out of the deal.
“(We) said from day one that if we didn’t have the support in the area, we wouldn’t come,” Ramos said. “We didn’t feel people had all the information they needed until we sit down with someone and list all of the things we could do for the community. If after that, if we didn’t feel we had the local support, we’d leave. … But for right now we’re focusing on doing what we can in Hollister.”
Schwarzenegger has said he will not negotiate gaming compacts with tribes outside of their indigenous areas without overwhelming local support. Because the California Valley Miwoks have not yet proven their ancestral ties to San Benito County, county supervisors and the San Juan council are hoping to demonstrate local opposition through resolutions condemning the project.
The Hollister City Council has yet to officially weigh in on the matter.
Siggins informed Loe that if the three government bodies fail to agree, the governor would then look at the general population’s position on the issue. It remains unclear how the state would gauge popular support.
In hopes of proving to the Hollister council and the governor’s office that the project does have supporters in San Benito County, the tribe and its investors have proposed a phone survey in Spanish and English.
Ramos and tribe attorney Philip Thompson have both said the five-member tribe intends to prove its roots in the county, but have not said when or how.
