Recently, the Board of Supervisors
were given a presentation by the Alturas Tribe concerning their casino planned for south
Yreka. The facility will be built on a piece of land held in trust for several Indians by
the federal government. It will be accessed from the I-5 freeway by taking the Highway 3
exit and turning down Fairlane, or taking the Shamrock-Easy Street exit past South Yreka
Fire, up Walters to Fairlane
When asked for clarification, County Counsel stated that he was
unaware of any language in the law that would allow the Board of Supervisors to stop the
planned casino project. It was also clarified that, although staff and the Sheriff and
Fire Departments had been meeting with the Tribe for discussions, there was not yet any
draft agreement between the County and the Alturas Tribe.
Under federal Public Law 280, the County has no regulatory authority
over “Trust Land.” The County has no zoning authority. It has no authority in
regard to building standards or environmental impacts on-site. Those will be governed by
ordinances set by the Alturas tribe. However, the County Sheriff does have the authority
to enforce State criminal laws on Trust Land. The County also has normal authority to
apply local regulations to parcels of non-Trust land surrounding the casino – even on
non-trust land owned by the tribe.
Generally, a tribe will negotiate a compact with the Governor’s
office to authorize operation of gaming facilities. In that process, the County is
encouraged to act in good faith to come to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the
tribe. These clarify any financial arrangements to offset the impact of the facility on
local taxpayers and County services. The agreement includes considerations for Sheriff,
fire and other County services, impacts on roads, landfill and infrastructure.
In the case of the Alturas Tribe, Governor Davis signed a compact in
1999 authorizing two casinos. The Tribe has indicated that this State compact authorizes
them to build their second facility away from Alturas in Siskiyou County. They are willing
to voluntarily enter into an Municipal Services Agreement.
The Tribe told the Board of Supervisors that the new facility will be
called the “Shasta Mountain Casino.” The plans are to develop in three phases.
The first phase is a temporary facility with 300 slot machines. The second phase is the
construction of a 750 slot facility with table games, a themed restaurant, sports bar and
deli-bakery. The third phase will include a 100 room hotel and conference center and
employ 500 fulltime permanent employees. Tribal representatives indicated that there is no
plan to develop the surrounding Brazie land. The
Brazie property has not been taken into federal Trust status and remains in County
regulatory jurisdiction.
During the 18 months the temporary facility is in operation, core
personnel will be trained, revenue will be generated to invest in the next phase, and real
impacts on traffic patterns can be determined to establish needs for any upgrades. It was
hoped that construction on the temporary facility will begin next month and the permanent
facility - within the year.
At least 50% of the jobs are above the entry level at $8 per hour.
Average earnings of all jobs comes out to about $27,750 per year. Employees will have a
choice of benefit packages. The annual payroll is anticipated to be around $11.5 million.
Construction of the facility is estimated to create 300 construction jobs with an $18
million payroll.
Several questions were posed by the audience at the presentation to
the Board:
(1) It was clarified that
the facility will have smoking and non-smoking sections and will serve liquor. (2) There
is a 65 gallon per minute well on the site which may fill their water need. (3) A “tertiary”
self-enclosed wastewater treatment facility is planned. There would be no open ponds and
the process is quiet and odorless. (4) There
are currently 4 adult members of the Alturas tribe and 5 children. (5) There will be
parking at a lower level with shuttle service. (6) The Tribe has done a marketing study
which will not be made available. (7) The
building of the Alturas casino does not limit other local tribes, such as the Shasta, from
building another casino.
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