San Diego County may lift barriers to tribes expanding their reservations
Proposal would also loosen liquor license requirements and create a tribal liaison.
San Diego County has prohibited the region’s 18 tribes from expanding their reservations for more than two decades. That ban, which was put into place when casino operations were proliferating at the turn of the century, could soon be lifted.
County Supervisors Jim Desmond and Nora Vargas will propose Wednesday that the county repeal previously approved resolutions stifling tribal growth.
As part of the action, it would remove a blanket opposition to tribes processing so-called fee-to-trust applications, which transfer land purchased by tribes or tribal members to a trust under the U.S. government, allowing tribes to govern and benefit from that land instead of the county.
Wednesday’s proposal would also scale back the current strict requirements for tribes to obtain liquor licenses, and it would establish a tribal liaison to strengthen the government-to-government relationship between the county and each of the region’s tribal governments.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs fee-to-trust process supports tribes’ rights to self-determination, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior website. Many federal programs and services to support tribal members are available only on reservations or trust lands.
Trust acquisitions allow tribes to develop the land they purchase as housing for tribal members, to access and use natural resources, and build energy developments.
“This is very important not only for the tribal governments, but also for San Diego County and the collaboration that it brings here today,” Desmond said.
The current policy of a blanket opposition to tribal growth in the county has been in place since the mid-1990s, Desmond said, and cases have not been considered individually based on their merits.
In November 2000, county supervisors voted to oppose tribes’ efforts to expand in response to a surge in “casino construction, accompanied by what they considered inadequate mitigation of off-site impacts,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reported the following year.
Desmond said this policy “led to distrust between tribal governments and county government, and an overall lack of collaboration and unity.”
With its 18 tribal governments, San Diego County is home to the greatest number of tribes than any U.S. county. There are 10 tribal casinos throughout the county, as well as other tribally owned businesses such as gas stations and a brewery.
These businesses are the main source of income for tribal governments and also provide job opportunities for San Diego County residents and tribal members.
“These tribes have proven to be good neighbors with their commercial endeavors — they’re part of the economic engine of our region,” Desmond said. “Collectively, they’ve created over 10,000 jobs for San Diego County residents, resulting in an over $1 billion a year industry.
“For too long, the County of San Diego has opposed the growth of tribal governments.”
Desmond was joined by tribal leaders, several of whom spoke during the news conference in support of the proposal.
Jamul Indian Village Chairwoman Erica M. Pinto said her tribe had submitted a land trust application in 2012 that was opposed by the Board of Supervisors, preventing the tribe from expanding the reservation. Currently, the tribe has only 6 acres of land where its casino was built, and no housing has been built for the tribe’s 72 members.
“We’re expanding, our members are growing, and we need that land,” Pinto said. “We need homes — we’re scattered throughout San Diego County, which we love the county because it’s all Kumeyaay territory, but we want to come back and be together.”
Jamul Indian Village has a current land in trust application for a historical cemetery on a 2.34-acre parcel of land, that was returned to the tribe by the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego in 2017, Pinto said. But the application is still pending approval.
“That is a no-brainer,” Pinto said. “That’s a cemetery, that should be something that’s not questioned, that should be done, but it’s not done.”
Cody Martinez, chairman of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, said the tribe has worked to grow its reservation from 640 acres to more than 2,000 acres over the years but has spent millions of dollars through a dozen fee-to-trust applications to do so. One of the largest acquisitions for the Sloan Canyon parcel cost more than $20 million.
About two-thirds of Sycuan’s original reservation was on a steep mountain hillside, Martinez said, which would have made building housing and businesses on it impossible.
Passage of this resolution would make the pathway to acquiring land in trust easier and cheaper for local tribes.
“Currently, with their blanket opposition, it creates a lot of hurdles and it takes years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to pursue a fee-to-trust policy,” Martinez said. “The tribe has invested millions of dollars for the land that was historically ours anyways.”
Rincon Band of Luiseno Chairman Bo Mazzetti said because tribal governments are not subdivisions of state or local governments, they should have a strong government-to-government relationship with the county.
“For the county to sit down and recognize this and work with us, I applaud this first step,” Mazzetti said. “We look forward to working with the county. We have done a lot for this county that folks need to be aware of, and in the future, hopefully we’ll do a better job at letting folks know how we’re really providing economic stability, economic increases, safety and health issues we are addressing for our surrounding communities.”
If this proposal passes Wednesday, Martinez said, some long-term benefits for the tribes likely would include economic growth, as well as a greater ability to preserve the land and natural resources. Sycuan was one of the first tribes nationwide to adopt a natural resource management plan along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Sweetwater Authority, he said.
“It’s all about bringing more land under tribal control,” he said. “The tribes care about land, care about natural resources, we protect the land ... it will help tribes grow and expand, and hopefully there will be economic growth behind it.”
Pinto hopes the Board of Supervisors approve the proposal next week, anticipating that it would establish a better relationship between the tribal and county governments.
“I think it’s going to be a very positive, lasting, collaborative relationship — it hasn’t been that in the past, and I think this is a step in the right direction, and this is just the beginning,” Pinto said. “We’re stronger together.”
Mapp writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
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