By John Stearns RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
NEWCASTLE, Calif. — A $100-million-plus casino east of Sacramento took
a major step forward Friday with word that the federal government
intends to place land into trust for the facility, which is expected to
open next year.
The decision culminates a 5 1/2-year effort by the United Auburn Indian
Community to get reservation lands restored that were taken by the
federal government in 1953.
The tribe has an agreement with Las Vegas-based gaming giant Station
Casinos Inc. to operate the facility, which is expected to have nearly
as many slot machines as the Peppermill and Silver Legacy Resort Casino
in Reno, but initially without a hotel.
The casino — which a Station official said will be a “state-of-the-art
gaming and entertainment facility” — will be just outside Roseville in
Placer County, about two to three miles northwest of Interstate 80, and
in the heart of a key feeder market for Washoe County’s visitor-based
economy. Reno-Sparks gets more than half its visitors from California,
most from the north state.
“I am proud to stand here today and announce a new chapter in our
history: one that we believe will be marked with renewed hope and
economic growth,” tribal chairwoman Jessica Tavares said during a press
conference at the tribe’s Newcastle office west of Auburn.
An artist’s rendering of the casino shows it with the name, “Thunder
Falls.”
University of Nevada, Reno, gaming expert Bill Eadington believes the
casino could post $250 million a year in gaming revenue. That would be
about a quarter of Washoe County’s gaming revenues last year.
Bruce Dewing — president and chief operating officer of The Holder
Hospitality Group, whose casinos include the Silver Club Hotel-Casino
in Sparks — said Station will be a serious competitor.
“Talk about putting a stop sign up on I-80,” Dewing said.
The project signals the need for northern Nevada to market smarter,
according to Dewing.
“We can’t keep going back to the same well (marketing to Northern
California and drive-up markets) and that’s what we’re doing,” he said.
“We’re ignoring other areas that, in my opinion, have a heck of a lot
more potential for growth.”
Those areas would be anywhere east or south of Reno, Dewing said.
“Station Casinos is one heck of an operator,” he added. “These guys are
smart . . . and they’ve got the resources and they’re going to be very
formidable.”
Glenn Christenson, chief financial officer for Station, told a Las
Vegas Review-Journal reporter that the project won’t stop people from
visiting Reno and Lake Tahoe.
“There are a number of natural attractions those markets have that will
continue to attract customers,” he said.
Following the trust announcement, there now is a 30-day period in which
anybody can protest the decision to put the 58 acres into trust, 49 of
which can be developed for the 200,000-square-foot facility. But no
challenges are anticipated to block the project or dramatically slow
it.
“The question is would any of them (protests) have any legal validity
and I think the answer is probably, no,” said Wayne Smith, deputy
assistant secretary-Indian Affairs, for the U.S. Department of the
Interior, which will place the land in trust on behalf of the
tribe.
Smith, who attended the event from Washington, D.C., said the tribe’s
land is the first taken into trust for gaming under the administration
of Interior Secretary Gale Norton. The agreement the tribe made with
Placer County to mitigate casino impacts and help pay for public
services is a model for tribal casinos throughout the country, he
said.
“This is what (Norton) would like to see happen and this is the way she
would like to see it happen,” Smith said. “(The Interior Department
would like to) take this cookie-cutter and just take it around and say,
‘This is what we would like to see you do’ because she’s a very
concerned about the state’s interests and she wants to be good
neighbors.”
Howard Dickstein, the tribe’s Sacramento lawyer, said the community
agreements helped the tribe’s trust application emerge atop more than
300 others nationwide.
“It’s unique for the tribe to have the county and the primary
anti-Indian gaming spokesperson (Cheryl Schmit of Stand Up For
California!) in support and it wasn’t just coincidence — that’s why it
took 5 1/2 years,” Dickstein said.
Schmit, founder and co-director of the group and who lives in Placer
County, applauded the tribe’s efforts.
“If all tribes were to exercise their sovereignty in this manner, in
such a responsible way, groups like mine would not have to be in
existence,” Schmit said. “I’m hoping that this kind of sets the
standard for California and nationally.”
Tavares said the tribe worked closely with numerous parties to offset
potential impacts of the project and voluntarily entered into an
agreement with the county for a number of obligations. Among them, the
tribe agreed to do an Environmental Impact Report; fund several
road-improvement projects and fire, police and emergency services;
adhere to local zoning, building and design guidelines; and pay $50,000
a year to the California Council on Problem Gambling.
Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt, in whose district the casino
will be located, said the package carries a $30 million value for
county taxpayers.
“It’s my understanding that it is to date the most comprehensive
agreement between a county and a tribal government reflecting adherence
to local land use planning jurisdiction,” Weygandt said. “At the
county, we’re very proud of this . . . it’s a landmark
agreement.”
Dickstein said the tribe’s pact with Station to develop and manage the
casino is subject to approval by the National Indian Gaming Commission,
which is pending. Station will get 22 percent of net revenue to manage
the casino for a term of five to seven years, leaving 78 percent for
the tribe.
He expects work to begin later this year on the casino, which will be
located about two miles from the large Roseville Galleria mall.
Construction would take about a year.
“I think we’d probably like to open with close to 2,000 (slot
machines), but let’s see how it works out,” Dickstein said. “If we have
to open with 1,000, we can do that, but the facility will be designed
for 2,000 (the most currently allowed by state law) or more.”
An agreement the state has with the tribes limits them to 2,000 slots.
That agreement, however, can be renegotiated in March 2003, just before
the Auburn tribe’s casino is expected to open.
“That issue (number of slots) is subject to renegotiation and I don’t
expect the number will go down,” Dickstein said.
Tavares looks forward to the approaching day that her tribe, some
members of which live in poverty, can realize income from the casino
and improve their lives.
“With our economic development, there’ll be homes for them and health
insurance, which is so badly needed, education for our children,” she
said. “And foremost, maybe the next generation doesn’t have to grow up
in the poverty we did.”
Schmit is confident some groups will protest the trust decision, but
she doesn’t think they’ll get far.
“What are they going to complain about?” she said. “I complained for 5
1/2 years and I’m satisfied. I think everything has been
resolved.”
