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On Saturday the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake received the go ahead for construction of the new Running Creek Casino in Upper Lake, according to Tribal Chair Sherry Treppa of the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake Executive Council.
The Department of Interior’s authorization is the final action the tribe needed to move forward with the compact, which was first signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in March, as Lake County News has reported.
“This is truly a significant achievement and a major victory for the people of Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake,” said Treppa. “The compact and the DOI’s determination are long, long overdue.”
She added the the approval “is the critical component we needed to open our small casino and ensure the tribe’s ability to become self sufficient, provide job opportunities and improve the overall quality of life for our people and our future generations.”
Treppa said the casino will provide badly needed jobs for the local community and mitigation funds directly to county agencies through various memoranda of understanding.
She estimated that work should be able to resume on the project in September, with the new facility opening next spring.
“The tribe has gone well beyond the county of Lake’s expectations in its extraordinary efforts to include county officials and the community at-large in the preparation and planning of its gaming project, over a period of several years,” Lake County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said in a written statement.
The Habematolel tribe also had faced opposition from some larger California tribes, according to Treppa.
“While we were disheartened that a minority of very large California gaming tribes opposed the Upper Lake Compact it was merely another impediment that was not insurmountable,” she said. “One would hope those wealthy tribes would recognize that their economic ambitions to expand their lush gaming resorts is far different than our tribe’s attempt to build a small casino that will enhance the lives of our entire Indian and non-Indian community.”
Running Creek Casino will be built on an 11-acre site next to the county park on Highway 20 outside of Upper Lake.
In a previous interview Treppa said the casino will include a gaming floor complete with 349 machines, six game tables, sitdown and fast food restaurants, a cocktail lounge, retail shops, a players club and administrative offices. The phased project eventually would include a hotel and total more than 76,000 square feet, according to a tribal fact sheet.
Previous estimates have put the cost to build the facility at $25 million, with the estimated number of jobs to be created at 145.
The compact was ratified by the state in the form of AB 1020, which was signed into law by Gov. Brown on June 13. Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro and state Sen. Noreen Evans sponsored the bill, which passed the Assembly with a unanimous vote of 69-0 on May 23 and passed through the Senate on June 9 with a vote of 40-0.
It was the second compact for the Habematolel that had been approved by the state.
A previous compact negotiated between the tribe and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009 was turned down in August 2010 after the Department of Interior ruled it violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act with revenue sharing requirements that were too onerous, as Lake County News has reported.
That denial nearly ended the tribe’s bid for a casino due to mounting debt, according to the tribe's Sunday statement.
However, compact negotiations began with Brown, with the resulting compact to run through Dec. 31, 2031, and allow a maximum of 750 slot machines at one gaming facility.
Under the terms of the compact, the tribe will share up to 15 percent of annual net win revenues with the state by making tiered payments to the legislatively controlled Special Distribution Fund (SDF) based on the number of devices the tribe actually operates under the compact.
The SDF provides grant funds to local communities for mitigation of local impacts of gaming, funding for the California Gambling Control Commission and Bureau of Gambling Control, as well as providing funding for problem-gambling prevention.
The tribe entered into a local intergovernmental agreement with the county of Lake in 2006 and Treppa said the tribe looks forward to fulfilling its obligations under that agreement in order to mitigate any impact the gaming facility may have in the local community.
Additionally, the tribe has entered into a fire and emergency service agreement with the Northshore Fire Protection District, which provides an annual payment of $80,000 from the tribe to the fire district to offset the cost of potential service calls the district may make to the tribe’s proposed gaming facility.
Other agencies involved in the tribe’s proposed project include the California Department of Transportation and the Lake County Special Districts Administration.
In 2009, the tribe and Caltrans completed a safety corridor improvement project along Highway 20 just east of Upper Lake which provided over $500,000 in highway safety improvements including safety lighting, lane widening, bike lanes and sidewalks.
In 2008, the tribe invested $378,000 with the Lake County Special Districts for wastewater system improvements and service to the proposed facility.
“This tribe has done everything possible to ensure that its gaming project will benefit our community and that there will be a long-standing positive working relationship between the tribe and the county of Lake,” said Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger.
In addition to the numerous intergovernmental agreements, the tribe also has cooperatively worked with the county of Lake to ensure the Middle Creek Flood Protection Project adjacent to the Tribe’s proposed gaming site will not be impeded in any manner with the construction of the Tribe’s gaming facility.
Through this cooperative effort, the tribe has set aside over 45 acres that eventually will be turned over to the county of Lake as part of the joint flood protection project.
Treppa said the tribe “has worked tirelessly from the inception of the project to be a good neighbor, to be forthright and honorable with its dealings with county, state, legislature, federal government and other tribes while exercising its sovereign right and duty to provide for and to protect its people and tribal lands.”
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