Rep. Jared Huffman surprised at opposition to Lytton tribe’s plans near Windsor

North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman said this week he was “a little bit surprised” by the opposition in Windsor to his legislation that would take land into federal trust for an Indian tribe and allow housing and other development.

Huffman anticipated a different reaction to his bill than the one he got Tuesday at a packed Windsor forum, where a majority of those in attendance indicated opposition to the project planned on Windsor’s outskirts by the Lytton Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians and Huffman’s legislation, which would prohibit a casino on the land.

“I have always assumed that preventing a casino in one of these land-to-trust situations would be seen by most folks as a big victory,” said the first-term Democrat from San Rafael. “Clearly, there’s a group that doesn’t see it this way.”

Huffman answered questions about his legislation and the Lytton Pomo project Thursday as part of an interview with The Press Democrat’s editorial board.

The uproar over the Lytton project is one of the most heated local land-use disputes that Huffman has had to deal with since being elected to the 2nd Congressional District, which stretches from the Golden Gate to the Oregon border and encompasses 30 different American Indian tribes.

Huffman said Sonoma County asked him to consider legislation that would secure an outcome prohibiting a casino and offsetting other development projects - something that local officials fear wouldn’t come to pass if the Lytton Pomos had their land taken into trust through an administrative process overseen by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The federal legislation represents a companion to the 22-year deal struck by county officials with the tribe in March, seeking a ban on a casino, and payments to offset impacts and property tax loss from a future reservation.

“If the BIA takes the land into trust and says none of that counts - which is entirely possible - that is what my bill can help avoid,” Huffman said.

The deal-making followed a land-buying spree over the past dozen years by the Lytton tribe, which has used revenue from its East Bay casino to amass an ever-greater swath of local property, mostly in an area southwest of Windsor. The tribe wants to build at least 147 homes for its members, along with a community center, a retreat and roundhouse. It also revealed plans for a possible 200-room hotel and 200,000-case winery and events center.

Huffman on Thursday touted some of the shared elements of the county deal and his legislation, notably land-use restrictions and environmental protections that he suggested could be lacking in any outcome overseen by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The ban on a casino is the key provision in both accords, although Huffman acknowledged that the language of his bill may need to be tightened up to prevent the Lyttons from developing a casino on trust land that they add in the future.

“I am very interested in doing something to better assure folks that there is not going to be a Lytton casino in Sonoma County,” he said.

Spokesmen for the Lytton Rancheria have steadfastly said the tribe has no plans to build a casino in Sonoma County.

But tribes have been known to switch course.

Huffman, an attorney and former California assemblyman, tried to stop the Graton Rancheria’s casino, which opened two years ago next to Rohnert Park. At one point, the tribe said it had no intent to get into the gambling business.

Huffman said tribes have certain legal rights under federal law and it can be up to them whether to make concessions.

“The idea of (tribal) sovereignty and how it plays into local control is fundamentally awkward in a lot of places,” he said.

Opponents of the Lytton project, including many Windsor residents who attended Tuesday’s forum, see Huffman’s bill as an enabling measure that would pave the way for a project with a heavy toll on the environment and public services. They dispute what Huffman and other officials in local government see as nearly inevitable - that the tribe’s land will be taken into trust through the administrative process if it doesn’t happen first through legislation.

Stopping the legislation, in opponents’ eyes, helps stop the project, which would result in the removal of 1,500 oak trees and which they fear could drain local water supplies and swamp roads with traffic.

“We know HR 2538 can be stopped,” Brad Whitworth, a spokesman for Citizens for Windsor, a group formed to oppose the Lytton development, said of Huffman’s bill.

Whitworth told the standing-room-only crowd that turned out for the Town Council forum Tuesday that a train wreck is coming and Huffman, “the train engineer, happens to be sitting in the room.

“All he needs to do at this point is take his hand off the throttle and put it over the brake,” he said, urging the congressman to pull his legislation and put a stop to the tribe’s projects.

There was loud cheering from the crowd of more than 400 people.

Whitworth said the real question for Huffman and elected officials is whether they represent 27,000 Windsor residents or 270 tribal members. “Do you represent the 1 percent?” he said.

Other speakers supported the tribe and endorsed the agreements struck with their representatives. Another citizens group suggested a compromise in which the tribe would limit the size and scope of its projects in exchange for smaller payments to the county.

Huffman said he understands the frustration of some residents when they found out at the last minute about the county’s negotiated agreement with the Lyttons and the tribe’s expanding list of economic diversification projects, which one opponent described as “grown on steroids.”

Huffman said it’s “a tough conversation” to have with some of his constituents who don’t want to accept that the tribe has a legal right to take some of the land it owns into trust “through a federal agency process that none of us have a heck of a lot of control over.”

“Your alternative is a negotiated agreement,” he said. “A lot of people just don’t like those choices. They wish there was another one. But I’m not sure there is.”

The county agreed to support the tribe’s housing and community project, which calls for potential construction of more than 360 homes. The county also agreed not to oppose the addition of 800 acres to the tribe’s planned reservation, making for a potential total of 1,300 acres to be taken into trust.

In return, the Lyttons agreed to pay the county $6.1 million, along with property taxes and other fees, while also submitting for federal environmental review the construction of a large winery, as well as a 200-room lodge with associated amenities, such as restaurants, a spa, a wedding area, gift shops and meeting and banquet facilities.

Huffman reaffirmed Thursday his stance that the Lytton tribe reservation-making process, though prone to drag on for a while, could be taken out of local hands entirely if handled by federal bureaucrats and not driven by his legislation.

He said the Bureau of Indian Affairs already tipped its hand in favor of the Lyttons by allowing their application to go forward with environmental review and a finding that there are no significant environmental impacts that cannot be mitigated.

“That’s kind of the penultimate step before taking land into trust,” he said. “It wouldn’t have gotten to that point if the BIA wasn’t moving toward it.”

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @clarkmas.

Editor’s note: This story has been revised to correct an error in a previous version. Congressman Jared Huffman is now in his second term.