RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- The Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted today to support plans for a tax-advantaged foreign trade zone -- most of it on Native American land -- in the southeast Coachella Valley.
The Four Winds Tribal Coalition won the board's endorsement in a 4-0 vote -- Supervisor Jeff Stone was absent -- and also received a $15,000 county funding commitment to move ahead in seeking federal approval for the trade zone, which would cover 3,541 acres of sovereign soil as well as 1,000 acres of public land, including the area around Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in Thermal.
"We wanted to be part of the solution here in Riverside County," said Cabazon Band of Mission Indians Chairman David Roosevelt. "This is the next step, the next phase in economic development."
The coalition partners are the Cabazon tribe, the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians and the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians.
"For some time, the tribes realized their location provided a shared set of unique circumstances, setting the stage for mutual opportunities among themselves and the residents of East Coachella Valley," said Darrell Mike, chairman of the Twenty-Nine Palms tribe. "The Four Winds Trade Zone is an excellent example of how tribes and local governments can work together."
Supervisor John Benoit, in whose district the trade zone would be located, asked fellow board members to support it.
According to the tribal coalition, plans for a new trade zone have been in the works since December 2009. The tribes are seeking to follow the example of the Tohono O'odham Nation near Tucson, Ariz., which succeeded in obtaining federal approval for a foreign trade zone in the 1990s.
The coalition has hired the Mobile, Ala.-based Foreign Trade Zone Corp. to guide it through the process.
Firms with trade zone status are spared paying import duties on products they bring into the country for use in manufacturing. The goods are treated as though they're still outside the United States and not subject to taxes, which are assessed when the finished products go to market.
The zones are monitored by U.S. Customs & Border Protection inspectors, who ensure firms are complying with regulations on foreign trade.
The county's current four trade zones are:
-- FTZ 236, surrounding Palm Springs International Airport;
-- FTZ 244, along the Interstate 215 corridor in Perris;
-- FTZ 153, which was recently expanded from northern San Diego County into the southwestern pocket of Riverside County; and
-- FTZ 202, which extends from the Port of Los Angeles into the new city of Eastvale.
The county is asking the Obama administration to approve the expansion of FTZ 236 to encompass all nine Coachella Valley cities and stretch west to Banning.
The board today also directed the county's federal lobbyists to work on building support for the tribes' proposed trade zone in Congress.
According to county Foreign Trade Commissioner Tom Freeman, the county has about 1,300 manufacturing operations that generate more than $11.5 billion in export activity annually