Federal government approves a request for a third casino in Sonoma County

A tribal representative described this decision as a major step toward developing a third tribal casino in Sonoma County.

The federal approval, which delighted leaders of the 540-member Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians, sets up the possibility of another prolonged local dispute with opponents of casino development, including the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

The county issued its own announcement late Friday saying that supervisors would review “legal options” following the decision.

Tribal spokesman Rob Muelrath, meanwhile, said Cloverdale Rancheria leaders viewed the news as a “massive step forward” in their plans for economic development on their new homeland immediately southeast of the Cloverdale city limits.

Those plans have called for a 575,600-square-foot casino-resort complex, including a 244-room hotel up to five stories high and a convention and entertainment center priced at $320 million.

At that scope, the project would compete with the county’s largest gaming facility, the $800 million Graton Resort and Casino, which is currently adding a hotel and convention space. The county’s first tribal casino, the 14-year-old River Rock Casino near Geyserville, has seen its own revenues cut in half since the Graton casino opened in November 2013 near Rohnert Park.

Muelrath, a Santa Rosa-based political consultant, said he could not comment on the scope of the planned Cloverdale project, which he said will be determined in an “ongoing dialogue” between the tribe and local government. “They want to be part of the community; they want to be good neighbors,” he said.

Bay Area patrons of the proposed Cloverdale casino would have to drive to the northern end of Sonoma County, about 35 miles past the Graton complex — owned by the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria — also bypassing River Rock, owned by the Dry Creek Rancheria of Pomo Indians, in Alexander Valley.

There are also seven smaller Indian casinos in Mendocino County and four in Lake County. Experts have said the North Bay casino marketplace may be oversaturated and the Cloverdale tribe may have difficulty financing the project, which has been in the works since 2007.

The tribe said then it had partnered with Sealaska, a Juneau-based Native American corporation, to buy the land, finance the project and manage it.

The 62-acre site is located at the south end of Cloverdale, adjacent to Highway 101 and Asti Road. Cloverdale and county officials said they were surprised by the Interior Department’s announcement, having expressed concerns in the past about the scope of the Cloverdale Pomo project, described by attorneys for the city as “behemoth” and “gargantuan.”

The Board of Supervisors has “consistently opposed taking the land into trust for gaming purposes,” Chairman Efren Carrillo said in a written statement. The county will be “reviewing our legal options to determine the best course of action to ensure the community does not bear the cost of the casino project impacts,” he said.

But the federal action of essentially taking ownership of the tribe’s land removes its development from city and county jurisdiction, County Counsel Bruce Goldstein said. Tribes are not bound by local laws or land use plans, such as the county general plan or zoning code.