WINCHESTER ---- Some Winchester residents reacted skeptically to the Soboba tribe's plans to build a 300-room hotel and casino in their sleepy, rural town, while others at an informational meeting Thursday said they looked forward to the entertainment and employment opportunities the project would bring.

Members of the Winchester Homeowner's Association asked tribal leaders to speak at the meeting to give residents a more clear idea of what the plans are, said former association president David Ledbetter.
About 130 people, with some standing in the aisles, crowded a small room at the Domenigoni Community Center to hear Tribal Chairman Robert Salgado's brief presentation and ask questions.

Salgado said the tribe's plans are tentative because the property it wants to build on ---- 128 acres at Domenigoni and Winchester roads ---- has not officially been incorporated into the reservation.

The proposed development, which would offer a minimum of 300 hotel rooms, could employ as many as 2,000 people. The tribe could develop water slides and theaters and an outlet mall similar to the one in Lake Elsinore, plus other commercial or retail projects, though no plans are definite at this time, Salgado said.

The casino could also bring close to 7,500 car trips a day to roads near the development, he said. He estimated the project would be finished in about one year.

"We want to let you know the potential (for the project) is greater than (any negative effects)," Salgado said.

Ledbetter said members of the tribe had met with the homeowners' association several times, but wanted a more formal environment in which people could ask questions.

"I think there's a fair amount of people who are probably going to be opposed to (the casino) on moral grounds," he said. "Other people will be in favor because of the potential for additional business."

He added that Winchester is a very rural community ---- the casino would be a radical change and residents would need time to adjust.

Lynne Stone, a Winchester resident who works for Pala Casino in northern San Diego County, said she was looking forward to the project.

"I think they would be a very good employer," she said. "If farmland is going to go, it might as well be for employers (instead of homes)."

Other residents questioned whether property values would increase and whether the tribe would be required to pay any taxes to lessen the effects of increased traffic.

Salgado said the tribe would pay millions out of its total gross to Riverside County under a distribution fund agreement, adding that the money would go straight to Winchester if the community was to incorporate.

Salgado said Soboba should soon obtain the 128-acre property near Diamond Valley Lake as the result of the settlement of a dispute involving three local water agencies ---- Metropolitan Water District, Eastern Municipal Water District and the Lake Hemet Municipal Water District. The agreement still must be ratified by Congress, however, before the tribe can begin to formulate concrete plans.

The tribe would have to incorporate the land into the reservation, but the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, an office of the U.S. Department of the Interior, would have to approve the move first.

Despite these obstacles, the tribe believes it can open its resort by 2005.

The decades-long dispute between the tribe and water agencies stems from the 13-mile San Jacinto Tunnel, a part of Metropolitan's Colorado River Aqueduct in the 1930s, tribal officials say. Since the tunnel was finished, the tribe has claimed that Metropolitan and Eastern took water that belonged to the reservation.

If the tentative settlement is approved, the Soboba Indians would receive 9,000 acre-feet of water rights every year ---- enough to supply 18,000 households ---- and $28 million from the various agencies.

The Soboba reservation, established in 1883, is comprised of about 9,000 acres east of San Jacinto. The tribe has 800 members, and is one of six bands of Luiseno Indians.