$320 million Cloverdale casino resort would create jobs, traffic

A newly-released, draft environmental study details the impacts the $320 million project would have, ranging from traffic to job creation.

Casino opponents say it makes it clear the casino will overwhelm the town of 8,600 people and the north county, forever altering the area in a negative way.

“The proposed casino-hotel development is just massive. The traffic situation would be awful,” said Steve Nurse, a member of Coalition Against the Casino in Cloverdale.

“It will make River Rock (Casino) look like a tinker toy,” said Mayor Carol Russell, who along with her colleagues passed a resolution two years ago opposing the project.

“My, my, they're building a mini-city here,” she said.

But the Cloverdale Rancheria Band of Pomos say their project could end up being smaller, depending on market demand and environmental constraints. And they say it would still bring badly-needed economic development.

“The Cloverdale Rancheria is excited to have reached yet another step in the process toward making a resort and gaming facility a reality in Cloverdale,” said Rob Muelrath, a spokesman for the tribe.

“Their mission is to build a new and sustainable economic opportunity that will benefit not only the tribe, but the community of Cloverdale,” he said.

The plan is to create a 596,000-square-foot-complex on 70 acres on the south end of town, on the east side of Highway 101.

The Cloverdale Rancheria in 2007 partnered with Sealaska, an Alaskan tribal corporation, to build the project. It would consist of a casino with 2,000 slots and 45 gaming tables, a 244-room hotel, a 984-seat convention center, a 1,300-seat entertainment center, food and beverages facilities with almost 1,000 seats and a tribal government building.

At more than 2,000 pages, the draft environmental study details impacts for a range of alternatives, including a smaller casino and no other buildings.

The study by ESA consultants will be the topic of a public hearing conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds.

The project still appears years away from reality, assuming the necessary approvals are obtained.

The land needs to be taken into federal trust for an Indian reservation, a lengthy process with uncertain outcome. And a gaming compact must be obtained from the governor and approved by the Legislature for Las Vegas-style gambling to proceed.

“It could take upwards of five years, possibly more,” Muelrath acknowledged Tuesday. “There's a lot of uncertainty as to the timing.”

Opponents say it might take 10 or 15 years, particularly since gambling revenues have suffered in the recession. But they still worry about negative impacts.

The casino-resort could employ more than 1,600 people aside from the 1,000 construction jobs that would initially be created to build it, according to the environmental document.

It also would create more than 9,550 motor vehicle trips daily and draw on scarce water supplies.

The document originally was expected to be unveiled to the public last year. Muelrath said it has been “sitting on the desk of the BIA” for some time.

“It's not uncommon to face delays in government, whether federal, state, or local,” he said.

Whatever the reason for the delay, it's made parts of the report outdated. For example, the authors of the report say the casino is expected to commence construction in the spring of 2010.

Russell, the Cloverdale mayor, said she is very uncomfortable with Sealaska's role, since it is not part of the community and officials have not made themselves available to answer questions about the project.

“They're a huge corporation. I've never understood why they are not more actively involved, more up front,” she said.

“Do we become, in essence, if this happens — and it may not happen for a lot of reasons — do we become a one-employer town? Does it destroy the balance of power so the real folks running the town are Sealaska?”

Muelrath countered that the project is ultimately dictated by the Cloverdale Rancheria.

A copy of the environmental study is available at the Cloverdale and Santa Rosa central library. It also can be viewed on-line at www.cloverdalerancheria.com.