Trust

BIA still working on Lytton Band's land-into-trust application

Friday, November 7, 2014

This property is included in the Lytton Band land-into-trust application. Photo from Lytton Residential Development Environmental Assessment

The Lytton Band of Pomo Indians in California is still waiting for an answer on its land-into-trust application.

The tribe wants 124 acres placed in trust for a housing project, a cultural center and other purposes. The Bureau of Indian Affairs issued a finding of no significant impact in June 2012 but two years later there's no word of a decision.

In the meantime, the tribe has been garnering local support for the acquisition. The tribe agreed to build a new pool for the town of Windsor at a cost between $7 million and $10 million.

The tribe also plans to contribute $2.5 million "mitigation fund" to the town to offset the construction of the pool and potential operating costs. Additionally, the tribe will pay an estimated $6.5 million to hook up to the town's water and sewer system.

Additionally, the tribe donated $1 million to the local school district and is already making payments to the fire district that will total more than $1 million over a decade, The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reported.

The effort appears to be paying off. Local officials and residents once voiced objections to the tribe's original plan for the land but those concerns seem to have faded.

“I have not seen the reaction I thought I would see,” Steve Allen, a council member in Windsor, told the Press-Democrat. “So far, people I’ve talked to about it seem to be fairly comfortable with the housing project. ”

Get the Story:
Windsor tribal housing project inches forward (The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat 11/7)