Business & Tech
Petaluma Casino a No-Go, Tribal Leaders Say
Dry Creek tribe's development plan doesn't include gambling, but public officials want more assurances.
A North Bay Indian tribe has new plans for a major Petaluma development – and it no longer includes gambling.
The Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Tribe released a development plan that includes housing, sports facilities and other amenities on a Petaluma-area parcel once eyed as a gambling site, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports.
The proposal calls for 42 or so townhouses, indoor and outdoor sports facilities, a medical clinic, a convenience store and an eatery, among other amenities, to go up on the 277-acre parcel east of Kastania Road near Highway 101, the report says.
The plan is an about face from a previous plan. A gambling site was the centerpiece of an expired 2005 trust application.
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A Petaluma casino is a risky proposition they don't think they can win, tribe official say.
The tribe would have to take on nearly $800 million in debt and share a big chunk of revenues with local governments in mitigation impact and casino management fees, Dry Creek Chairman Harvey Hopkins told the Press Democrat, noting that “50 percent of your money is going to other governments besides your own.
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“It doesn’t make sense.”
The tribe's submission to the Bureau of Indian Affairs stating its intent not to build casinos on the land is expected to accelerate the planning process.
Hopkins told the Press Democrat it will take three to five years to complete impact studies and title transfers, a process that would likely drag on for more than 10 years for a proposed gambling site.
The development plan calls for wetlands mitigation bank near the Petaluma River and greenbelt protection that could be a money-maker for the tribe according to the report, which notes the tribe could the flip the environmental protection credits to future area developers.
Still, public officials want more assurances from the tribe that today's development isn't tomorrow's casino, especially if city resources such as water and sewer services figure in the plan, the report says.
“If I were 100 percent guaranteed of no casino, I would role up my sleeves to work with them,” South Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt told the Press Democrat.
