CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS APPROVES OF PT. MOLATE RESORT-CASINO

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS APPROVES OF PT. MOLATE RESORT-CASINO

After years of trying to prevent Indian gaming in Contra Costa County, county supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to support a plan to bring a Las Vegas-style casino and resort to the Richmond waterfront.

The project, proposed by the Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians and the developer Upstream Point Molate LLC, includes a 124,000-square-foot class III casino; two hotels; luxury cottages; business, conference and entertainment facilities; a 300,000-square-foot shopping center and tribal government buildings on the 266-acre former Naval Fuel Depot Point Molate just north of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

The proposed project also includes 340 units of multi-family housing, restoration of 34 historic buildings, a ferryboat terminal, shoreline parks, a tribal park and bicycle and pedestrian paths.Now that the county's agreement is in place, if the project is approved, the county will receive $12 million a year in additional revenue.The county has estimated that about $6 million to $7 million of that money would be used to pay for increased law enforcement and public services resulting from the project, Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia said.

Those services will include a "Responsible Gambling Program" to help prevent gambling addiction and underage gambling.Gioia, who represents west county, said that the county has spent nearly $1 million over the past several years opposing Indian gaming in the county, but felt that the dangers of continuing to oppose the Point Molate project were too great.The U.S. Navy has already transferred the land to the city of Richmond and, in 2004, the city entered into an agreement with the tribe and the developer to sell them the land to build the casino resort, Gioia said.It is now up to the U.S. Department of the Interior to declare the land Indian land, Gioia said.If that happens, the tribe would be able to open a class II casino, like the casino in San Pablo, without any additional negotiation with the county. Class II casinos include games such as bingo and card games in which players play against each other, not the house.

If the tribe wanted to open a class III casino, like the casinos in Las Vegas that offer slot machines, blackjack, craps and roulette, it would have to enter into a tribal-state compact with the governor that could include giving money to the county for mitigation of off-reservation impacts.

However, Gioia said that supervisors believe that the $12 million they negotiated is significantly more than they would get if they continued to oppose the project and then tried to negotiate later through arbitration.Gioia also noted that the actual impacts of the project are difficult to predict. There will likely be increased crime, mainly robberies and burglaries, but there will also be many more jobs, which tends to decrease crime.

If approved, the project will bring 4,500 new, well-paying jobs to the area. The tribe has promised to hire Richmond residents to fill 40 percent of those positions and people who live elsewhere in Contra Costa County to fill an additional 30 percent of those positions, Gioia said.There will also be an estimated 1,000 new prevailing wage construction jobs for the three years the resort is being built, Gioia said.

Lina Velasco, a senior planner with the city of Richmond who is managing the environmental impact review of the project, said that the environmental impact report on the project was released in October for public comment. The public comment period ended Oct. 23.The city planning department is now reviewing all of the comments and will be responding to them and looking to see if further analysis of the project is needed.The comments and responses will become a part of the final environmental impact report, which will then go before the Richmond City Council for approval, Velasco said.The city's goal is to complete responses to public comments sometime in December.Velasco said there appeared to be an equal number of people in favor of the project as there are against it.

Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin has publicly said she is opposed to the project and the City of San Pablo issued a resolution stating its opposition to the project, Velasco said.According to the tribe, the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, the East Bay Regional Park District and the Contra Costa Building Construction and Trades Council have endorsed the project.Gioia said that Contra Costa County Sheriff Warren Rupf has also written a letter saying he is in favor of the project.Barring any major setbacks, the local and federal approval process could be completed in 2010 and the developer could break ground next fall, Velasco said.

The Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians is a federally recognized tribe that is seeking to develop a land base to support tribal government functions. They hope that the casino resort will give them a way to provide health care, education, eldercare, economic development and other services to their people.

According to the tribe's Web site, the tribe lost its land in 1851 through an unfulfilled treaty with the U.S. government. The tribe's federal recognition was restored in 1991 following a settlement in federal court.The tribe is believed to have historical ties to Point Molate, Velasco said.

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