Residents living near the Soboba Indian Reservation near San Jacinto want to make sure city and county officials analyze a proposal to annex almost 535 acres to the reservation for development of a hotel-casino complex.

"The reality is, we will be engulfed by a reservation," said Tish Arciniega, a member of the loosely organized Save Our Communities group. She was speaking at a recent meeting held to brief neighbors about the plans and encourage them to contact officials.

The Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians operates a casino on the reservation about a mile from the proposed development. The tribe wants to annex land it owns along Soboba Road near Lake Park Drive into federal "fee to trust" status, adding to the more than 3,000-acre reservation.

In trust, the land is held by the U.S. government on behalf of the tribe, while the tribe controls the land's use.

If the annexation goes through, residents of three neighborhoods -- Soboba Springs Mobile Estates, a housing development adjacent to the Country Club at Soboba golf course, and a hillside neighborhood -- would have to travel through the reservation to get to their homes in the city of San Jacinto.

A big turnout is expected at a Bureau of Indian Affairs public hearing Wednesday at the Hemet Public Library. The bureau will accept written comments about the proposed development until Sept. 15.

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Kurt Miller / The Press-Enterprise

Jerry Uecker, right, and Mary Cowan are among those who are worried about efforts by the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians to annex 535 acres of land in the San Jacinto area.

The hearing and written comments will be addressed in the federal final environmental impact statement, according to Patrick O'Mallan, environmental protection specialist with the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Sacramento regional office. That may take until 2010.

The regional director will make a recommendation to Larry Echo Hawk, the U.S. Department of the Interior's assistant secretary of Indian affairs, who will make the decision about the land annexation, he said.

DIFFERING VIEWS

Arciniega and Jerry Uecker, who live in the Soboba Springs area, have been joined on the podium circuit by Loren Pratt.

Pratt says annexation would remove property from government tax roles, yet a resort would lure visitors who would have an impact on roads and services. Pratt also says visitors may bypass non-Indian businesses and spend their money at the Soboba complex.

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The draft environmental report on the development suggests it would create jobs, and employees would live and spend money in the valley.

The proposed 729,500-square-foot complex would include a 300-room hotel, casino, restaurants, convention center, events arena, retail establishments and a parking structure.

A tribal lawyer described it as a relocation of the casino with no expansion of gaming.

The Soboba tribal response to the public concern has been restrained.

"The fee to trust application is a government to government transaction, that involves and considers the public through the public comment phase. This critical component of the process provides for all public concerns ... to be identified so that they may be considered in the Final (environmental impact statement). The tribe remains committed to this process," Mike Hiles, Soboba tribal information officer, said in a written statement.

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Kurt Miller / The Press-Enterprise

Jerry Uecker, right, and Mary Cowan walk near the area where the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians want to build a hotel/casino complex in San Jacinto.

The city of San Jacinto is on record asking the bureau to suspend the Soboba tribe's annexation application out of public safety concerns.

"The land use isn't appropriate for the property," Mayor Dale Stubblefield said by phone.

The public safety question extends to how the city would provide services to residents. If the proposal were on existing reservation land, he expects the city would support such an expansion.

TRAFFIC CONCERNS

At Soboba Springs, resident Mary Cowan is distributing door fliers to remind residents about Wednesday's hearing.

"If they want to increase their buildings on the reservation, that's fine with me," she said by phone, expressing a common sentiment among residents. But with a resort across the road,

"We won't be able to get out. There will be nothing but noise" and traffic.

"The beauty of the valley is going to be gone," Cowan said.

Golfer and resident Ken Brass is complimentary about the extensive renovation at the tribal-owned Soboba golf course and country club.

But he said he is concerned about neighborhood access and the effects on roads.

The estimated 2,957 vehicle trips a day to the existing casino is expected to increase by 19,568 trips a day if the new casino complex is built, according to a traffic study.

"It would be like a train," Brass said. "People couldn't get in and out of our tract."

The retired Los Angeles firefighter's advice to the tribe: "Don't do it when you jeopardize all the people you invite in."

Reach Gail Wesson at 951-763-3455 or gwesson@PE.com

Soboba land fee-to-trust environmental review

The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs is accepting comments until Sept. 15 on the draft environmental impact statement on the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians' proposal to annex almost 535 acres to its reservation next to San Jacinto for a hotel-casino complex project. The public comment period includes a public hearing this week.

When: 5-9 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Hemet Public Library, second floor

Draft report: The document is available for review at the San Jacinto Library and Hemet Public Library or on the Web at www.team.entrix.com/clientsite/soboba.nsf