Sonoma County supervisors approve casino agreement with Dry Creek Rancheria
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has approved an agreement paving the way for a tribal casino-resort project on the site of the current River Rock Casino near Geyserville.
Following a heated meeting Tuesday marked by testimony from numerous lawyers and frustrated neighbors, the board voted 4-1 to approve the agreement. James Gore, the supervisor who represents north county, cast the lone dissenting vote.
The agreement outlines a project on Dry Creek Rancheria’s Alexander Valley land that would feature a hotel with nearly 300 rooms, a 60,000-square-foot casino with up to 1,500 slot machines — about 300 more than in the existing gaming hall — a wedding chapel and spa, among other amenities.
It replaces a 2008 agreement between the county and tribe that allowed a larger project, including a hotel with up to 600 rooms, and an 88,000-square-foot casino with up to 3,000 gaming devices.
“I think we’ve come up with an MOA (memorandum of agreement) that is fair to the tribe and fair to the county,” Chris Wright, chairman for Dry Creek Rancheria, told the board. “I look forward to a government to government relationship going forward.”
Under the new agreement, Dry Creek Rancheria will pay the county $750,000 annually until four years after the resort is built, at which time a 2% annual increase will kick in. Annual payments will not exceed $1.5 million.
The tribe does not yet have a definite timeline, as the project is still under development, said Michelle Lee, attorney for Dry Creek Rancheria, a Pomo tribe that owns and operates one of Sonoma County’s two casinos.
The tribe had announced plans 16 years ago that called for construction on what was then a $300 million luxury resort hotel and casino to replace its original gaming facility, which opened in 2002 overlooking the heart of Alexander Valley. Those plans never came to fruition.
The other, Graton Resort and Casino outside Rohnert Park, is the Bay Area’s largest gaming destination, and its 2013 opening cut sharply into River Rock’s business. Graton Rancheria, the tribe behind the Rohnert Park casino, is also now pursuing plans for a major expansion of its gaming floor and a second hotel tower.
Another Pomo tribe, the Koi Nation, is seeking to develop a gaming resort outside Windsor, a move opposed by five Sonoma County-based tribes, as well as the county Board of Supervisors.
Alexander Valley neighbors, meanwhile, objected strongly to provisions in the new deal with Dry Creek Rancheria that sideline them in discussions about redevelopment of the River Rock site.
Gore’s rare dissenting vote reflected the immense pressure from those constituents on the one hand, and the potential wide ramifications of delaying a deal with a tribe that has little legal obligation to work closely with the county.
Gore’s district includes Alexander Valley, where the tribe’s 75-acre reservation and River Rock Casino sits east of Highway 128.
In an interview after the meeting, Gore said he voted no to allow for more time to hopefully reach a compromise between Dry Creek Rancheria and neighbors.
“I’ve never encountered a project where halving it was not seen as a benefit,” Gore said in an interview after the meeting.
Neighbors said the county should have done more to include them in the three years of negotiations that led to Tuesday’s vote.
Residents raised concerns about the potential project’s impact on crime, fire safety and other quality of life issues, but the core sticking points came down to whether residents should be able to communicate directly with the tribe instead of going through the county’s public process and whether the new agreement eliminated necessary environmental study provisions.
“We are very, very angry and we’re not standing down,” said Karin Warnelius-Miller, president of the Alexander Valley Association, which represents families, farmers and businesses in the area and has been a part of some of the past negotiations.
The association had meetings with Gore and Dry Creek Rancheria last year, but was not involved directly in the negotiations.
In the new proposed agreement with the county, Dry Creek Rancheria also has agreed not to build a casino on 277 acres it owns near Petaluma’s southern border until at least 2035.
That pledge alone was seen as a major win by some officials, including Supervisor David Rabbitt, who represents south county.
The provision is conditional, however, and would be nullified in the event the Koi Nation succeeds in its bid to build its proposed casino in Windsor.
The county’s attorneys, Holly Rickett and Jennifer Klein, and Lee, representing the Dry Creek tribe, said the new agreement cleans up the 2008 deal that was subject to multiple amendments.
