"The proposed Graton Rancheria casino in Rohnert Park is a good example of how tribes are allowed to bypass regulations everyone else must abide by. The site is zoned rural residential and agricultural under the Sonoma County general plan. One hundred and eighty acres of the site is “community separator” as designated in the general plan, and most of the land is under a Williamson Act contract.
No other developer would be permitted to build this project on this site, nor are any developers other than tribes permitted to build and operate Class III casinos, an industry which study after study, including one by former Attorney General Bill Lockyer, have been found to be detrimental to the host communities. Californians have little protection from tribal projects under existing law. In its February 2008 letter to the Department of the Interior, the League of California Cities requested that the federal government give communities a bigger voice in Indian land acquisitions and projects." Get the Story: