Jamul Indian Village – Another One to Watch

It’s been 15 yrs since the Jamul first began dreaming of building a casino. The 64 member Tipai Band of Kumeyaay Indians reside on a reservation known as the Jamul Indian Village located 20 minutes east of downtown San Diego.

The reservation comprises only 6 acres so the tribe’s plan was to have the federal government place 81 surrounding acres into trust for them to accommodate the development. In August of 2005, tired of waiting for a decision on their land application which the Interior had been sitting on for 6 yrs due to strong opposition from the locals and Gov Schwarzenegger, the tribe decided to abandon the original plan and build what they could on their 6 acres reservation.

Their original plan was to spread the development out over the 80 acres…pretty much like what our local Chumash did. But because they were constricted by only having 6 acres to work with, the tribe decided they had no choice but to stack the hotel, casino and parking facilities into one structure. The new plan would have meant a 30 story high rise which was later reduced to 16 stories. But still, the plan exasperated the locals even more.

Although the tribe is federally recognized and signed a state gambling compact in 1999 with then-Gov. Gray Davis to install the more lucrative class III slots, they announced in March of 2007 that they would build a smaller casino with 1,000 class II bingo-based machines which would not require approval from state and local officials.

Even though the tribe held a “ceremonial” ground breaking event in Dec of 2005, they still have many obstacles. Among these are litigation claiming that they are not a legitimate tribe and financial woes by the company promoting the development.

And there is still the 95% of the residents who oppose the tribe’s plans and are always on a vigil to ensure that the tribe does not violate any laws.

The tribe recently won a victory when a federal judge ruled Jan. 9 that the Jamul can proceed with its lawsuit against California highway officials. The reservation sued Caltrans for allegedly imposing on its sovereign rights by requiring the tribe to go through a full environmental impact study in its plans to build a casino.

U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw rejected Caltrans’ plea to dismiss the lawsuit. Caltrans argued that the construction and operation of the planned Class II casino violated their state sovereignty by encroaching on Caltrans’ state jurisdiction over its highway system. Caltrans sought immunity protection under the 11th Amendment but Sabraw denied that motion.

The lawsuit asked for an injunction to stop Caltrans from blocking access onto the reservation if the tribe proceeded with construction without an impact study.

Sabraw gave Caltrans 20 days to answer the tribe’s lawsuit.

Sources:
http://www.spas.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051211/news_1m11jamul.html
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/southwest/39310667.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamul,_California