Plan to take Lytton Pomos’ land near Windsor into trust getting first hearing

Opponents of plans by the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians to build housing for tribe members on the outskirts of Windsor - and possibly add a 200-room resort and winery - were unsuccessful in delaying a hearing planned for Wednesday on proposed Congressional legislation that would pave the way for the tribe’s projects.

A Congressional subcommittee is holding the first hearing on legislation introduced by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, that would place more than 500 acres into federal trust for the tribe to build almost 150 homes, a community center, roundhouse and retreat off Windsor River Road.

The tribe also has identified a half-dozen parcels with access from Starr and Eastside roads to potentially build a resort and a 200,000-case winery.

“They’re just slamming it through Congress, jamming it through,” asserted Eric Wee, an opponent of the tribe’s plans who said there has been inadequate time to respond to the legislation introduced by Huffman on May 21.

Huffman was not available for comment Wednesday, but Windsor Mayor Bruce Okrepkie said the legislative session Wednesday before the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs is just a first step in the information gathering process.

“I understand it’s a basic hearing. There isn’t going to be much of an action on it,” he said.

Opponents say a growing number of people are against the Lytton project and they have managed to gather more than 400 signatures in just a few weeks asking Huffman to withdraw his legislation.

They said a poll that they commissioned showed 56 percent of Windsor residents are against allowing the tribe to hook up to the town’s water and sewer systems to build its residential project.

Mayor Okrepkie said the poll was designed to get the answers opponents wanted and he disputed whether opposition is that strong.

“I haven’t had a bunch of backlash against it,” he said of the negotiations Windsor and the tribe have been involved with to extend town utilities to the project.

Michael Robison, a Windsor resident who is also opposed to the Huffman bill, said he and Wee would have liked to have flown to Washington to testify at Wednesday’s hearing, but there wasn’t sufficient notice.

“They said we can offer written testimony for approximately 10 business days. I intend to do that,” Robison said.

As it is, the only scheduled witness at the Huffman bill’s subcommittee hearing Wednesday is Lytton Rancheria tribal chairwoman Marjie Mejia.

The hearing, scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. PDT, can be viewed at http://naturalresources.house.gov/live/.

The Lytton Pomos say passage of the bill will enable them to establish a home base after their historic rancheria north of Healdsburg was illegally terminated in 1958, something Huffman’s bill acknowledges.

“Congress needs to take action to reverse historic injustices that befell the Tribe and have prevented it from regaining a homeland on its original lands,” is one of findings of his proposed legislation H.R. 2538.

Huffman’s legislation prohibits a casino, or any gaming, but allows the land to be developed for housing and other purposes.

The Lytton tribe, bolstered by profits from its San Pablo Casino, has steadily acquired land southwest of Windsor over the past dozen years, stoking fears that they might build a casino once the land is taken into federal trust and no longer subject to local land use regulations and zoning.

Opponents have also seized on the more than 1,500 trees - mostly blue oaks - that would be cleared to make way for the tribal housing project, a move they say will have a disastrous environmental impact.

A review by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, however, determined there were no environmental impacts that couldn’t be mitigated. For example, new trees would be planted. But the application to have the land taken into federal trust stalled through the Bureau of Indian Affairs administrative process.

Huffman said he proposed to create the Indian lands through an Act of Congress not only because it will forbid a casino anytime in the future, but bring more certainty over what can be built and how the impacts will be offset.

The tribe earlier this year struck an extensive deal with Sonoma County agreeing not to engage in any gaming activities in the county for 22 years - the length of the agreement - as well as pay the county $6.1 million for one-time impacts to county roads, parks and woodlands.

The tribe also promised to pay the county its share of property taxes that would otherwise be required if the lands were not in trust.

If the tribe decides to pursue a winery and resort it also agreed those plans would be subject to federal environmental review and mitigation of any off-trust land impacts.

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