LAKEPORT, Calif. – County and Robinson Rancheria tribal officials held a face-to-face, public discussion on Tuesday that focused on a gas station project but expanded to touch on relations between the two governments, a communications breakdown and a tribal leader's belief that their sovereignty had been challenged.
Robinson Rancheria Citizens Business Council Chair Tracey Avila, accompanied by tribal attorney Lester Marston, took part in the discussion on Tuesday, which was focused on answering questions the county had about the tribe's gas station and smoke shop project, located on Highway 20 across from the tribe's casino.
Avila voiced her concerns over what she felt was disrespect of the tribe, and Marston emphasized to the county that it had no jurisdiction over the gas station project, which is being built on land held in trust for the tribe by the United States government.
At its Dec. 14 meeting, the board had directed Supervisor Denise Rushing – in whose district the tribe and its project is located – to send tribal officials a letter expressing concern over the project, which has been identified as being within the boundaries of the 1,400-acre Middle Creek Restoration Project, which seeks to reestablish wetlands.
After not receiving a response to the letter or to voice mail messages she left for Avila, last week Rushing took to the board a more strongly worded letter to the tribe, asking for a response by Jan. 24 or else the county would ask the governor's office to investigate the tribe's compact, which calls for good faith negotiations to address off-reservation impacts for projects connected with gaming facilities.
But included with Tuesday's meeting packet was an e-mail Tribal Administrator Buffy White Jimenez had sent Supervisor Rob Brown on Dec. 28, stating the tribe had not at that point received the Dec. 16 letter.
Lake County News e-mailed Jimenez to ask for more information about when and if it received the letter, but she did not respond. The tribe also has not responded to previous requests for information about its project.
It was stated at Tuesday's meeting that the tribe received the letter in the first week of this month.
Rushing said Tuesday she only found out about that e-mail on Monday, at which time she met with Avila to apologize, which she did again at Tuesday's meeting. She said she doubted the county would have sent that second letter had it known the tribe hadn't received the first one.
“While the communications on this project have been rocky, we have had a few very good meetings I believe,” said Rushing, referring to separate meetings she and Brown had with Avila last Thursday to discuss the county's concerns.
Rushing said the main issues are Clear Lake and the Middle Creek wetland, which the community collectively cares about. She showed a satellite picture from early last year that showed a phosphorous plume coming out of the Rodman Slough, and it's that kind of nutrient loading that the Middle Creek restoration project is trying to address.
In a Monday meeting with Avila, Rushing said she was told that the project does not include a truck stop component, that it is being built to the tribe's environmental and stormwater standards – which are similar to those the county uses – and that it won't use Reclamation Road as the access, as the tribe is now going back to Caltrans to ask to access the station off of Highway 20.
Avila also told Rushing that the tribe has asked Northshore Fire Protection District to work with it on fire prevention and safety.
In addition, Avila told Rushing that the federal Environmental Protection Agency will be responsible for monitoring the site.
As for the project being built during the rainy season, Avila had told Rushing that the timing aspect was critical to the project's success, and that best management practices for the site were being followed.
During their discussion, Avila and Rushing discussed the federal government's unwillingness to allow the tribe to swap the trust status on the property for another piece of land owned by the tribe, leaving Robinson with the need to move forward.
Avila also indicated during the meeting with Rushing that the tribe was willing to discuss with the county the Middle Creek project.
At the board meeting Tuesday, Avila expressed her concern about the tone and content of the board's second letter, which she said “was a threat to our government.”
Avila said the tribe's gaming establishment is separate from the proposed gas station, which the tribe first proposed 20 years ago. She said it doesn't include a truck stop, because the tribe was mindful of the county's desire to keep trucks off of Highway 20, instead routing them around Highway 29.
She thanked Brown for initiating a contact with the tribe. “I was very grateful for that.”
Brown said he took a list of concerns from the board and department heads when he met with the tribe last week. He felt the best management practices for the site were being observed.
The gas station is located at 1,336 feet elevation, 18 feet above the lake level and only three feet below the level of the Lakeport courthouse. Brown said if the gas station site flooded then the board would have to go to the courthouse via rowboat.
Coming out of Brown's meeting with the tribe last week was an open invitation from Avila for county Water Resources Manager Scott De Leon to meet with the tribal council regarding Middle Creek, “and hopefully the need not to have the ring levees,” Brown said.
Avila told the board that the money the tribe is using for the gas station project is revenue that has come from sources including its smoke shop.
She said the county would have had that information had Rushing come to her office initially, and she alleged that there has been no direct communication between the tribe and county for two to three years. It was only after the recent face-to-face meetings with county officials that Avila said she was given the respect she deserved as the representative of another government agency.
Supervisor Anthony Farrington said that he didn't want to get into a “turf battle” about who has jurisdiction over the project, and he was happy that the lines of communication have opened between the tribe and county.
Marston told the board, “There is not going to be a turf war because the law is very clear,” with the county and its special districts having no jurisdiction to enforce any rules against the tribe – be it relating to zoning, county ordinances, fire or water.
Marston, who said he has been the tribe's attorney for two years, explained that the tribe wanted to have a good working relationship with the county.
As evidence of that he said that the tribe has redesigned its project so that it will seek a Caltrans permit for access off of Highway 20, rather than using the county-maintained Reclamation Road, which the county had indicated to the tribe in a separate Public Works letter last month would require a county encroachment permit.
“The tribe took your wishes into consideration and redesigned the project, at a cost to the tribe,” Marston said, adding, “This is not a tribal government that does not want to be a good partner and a good neighbor.”
He said the county needs to treat the tribe the same way it would treat any other government, and said no one contacted the tribe about another gas station project down the road from it.
Marston said he visited with the site supervisor and looked at a project map overlay so he could be assured no construction was taking place in the wetlands. All stormwater runoff is being captured in holding ponds which the tribe will have hauled away in future if needed.
Avila told the board that Robinson, like most tribes, accepted building standards similar to those used by local government jurisdictions in order to avoid rebuilding the wheel.
Rushing referenced a letter from Cheryl Schmidt of Stand Up For California, a group that monitors Indian gaming around the state. Schmidt's letter asserted that the tribe's compact required “good faith” efforts to address off-reservation impacts, which Marston denied.
Brown said that if the tribe's gas station were located on the other side of the highway, next to the casino, it would be more of a concern. “It's on a separate parcel and there's no gaming there,” and it's not an extension of the gaming operation, he said.
Rushing said one of her main concerns had been the amount of earth being moved during the rainy season, which she said also had concerned her constituents. “I've received numerous calls.”
During public comment, Sierra Club Lake Group Chair Cheri Holden, who had also written Avila a letter about the project, said the group's main concerns are whether or not the environment is being well served, and what the impacts are on the lake's health.
Lower Lake resident Victoria Brandon said county projects usually include opportunities for local tribes to comment, and noted that everyone is in sympathy with the tribe's desire to expand its economic base.
She said she was encouraged to hear the project might not have negative effects on Middle Creek moving forward, and that perhaps there is another opportunity in the future for working with the tribe and Congressman Mike Thompson to facilitate a land transfer.
Marston, who quickly read over Schmidt's letter, said he disagreed with her opinion about the tribe's good faith requirements.
He said the tribe contacted the California Gambling Control Commission to see if it had any concerns, but noted that for gambling to take place on the property, the Secretary of the Interior would have had to make a determination allowing it, and that's never been done.
Rushing told Avila and the tribal members in attendance that she would make it a point to stop by regularly to talk to tribal leadership and would work with Avila to set up a future meeting on the Middle Creek project.
She said after the meeting that she was very gratified that the tribe is willing to work with the county and discuss the projects.
State, federal officials offer updates
On Tuesday Lake County News spoke with state and federal officials regarding their involvement in various aspects of the project.
Phil Frisbie, spokesman for Caltrans, said Robinson Rancheria representatives applied in December for a Caltrans encroachment permit to access the gas station from Highway 20.
“They are currently working with us to come to an agreement as far as what will need to be done,” including modifications to the highway such as turn lanes, he said.
The length of the process depends on the negotiations. “Right now we're going back and forth on details,” Frisbie said, adding, “I really don't know how long that will take.”
He said the tribe didn't estimate when the project would be ready to open.
The US Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday that it had retrieved a file on a permit the tribe had take out and which expired in September 1999.
Regulatory branch manager Peck Ha said the permit was for the gas station project; specifically, it had been necessary because the plan at that time included grading and putting fill into part of a nearby 28-acre wetland.
In 1997 the tribe had approached the Army Corps to request a wetlands delineation verification, receiving a permit in 1998, Ha said.
Ha said he doesn't know if the current project will require a permit. After two previous e-mail requests, Ha said that on Tuesday morning he spoke with Marston to request access to the site, which he said will help him determine if a permit is necessary. This Friday Ha hopes to access the property.
If he's able to see the property then, “Next week I will have a more conclusive evaluation of the wetlands,” he said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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