JOSHUA TREE — A local tribe has revived plans to build a casino in the high desert, bringing the debate over off-reservation gaming closer to home.
The Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians wants to build a small, 20,000-square-foot casino along a stretch of Highway 62 in the town center of Joshua Tree.
The proposal — which the tribe has circulated to community leaders in recent months — is a scaled-back version of a long-stalled plan from the days before the recession. That plan described a large casino, hotel and RV park on reservation land in the neighboring town of Twentynine Palms.
Just the idea of bringing Indian gaming to the high desert has increased concern among residents who say a casino would mar the unique rural character of the area 35 miles northeast of Palm Springs.
But it's also raising questions about Indian tribes' desires to expand their gaming operations to non-reservation land that they own.
Such off-reservation casinos are allowed under a two-part approval process that involves the U.S. Department of Interior and the California governor's office. Two other California tribes seeking to build off-reservation casinos already have received federal approval and are now awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown's endorsement.
If the Twenty-Nine Palms tribe pursues the Joshua Tree plan, critics fear it could encourage even more tribes to follow suit.
“That's not what the voters agreed to. If we're going to start allowing tribal gambling to move to more marketable locations, then what's next?” said Cheryl Schmit, executive director for Stand Up for California, a statewide organization that has fought the expansion of tribal gambling.
“It begins to be unfair competition to established businesses when you start creating new reservation lands.”
The Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians has, for years, looked to expand its gambling business beyond the Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella, which opened in 1995.
In 2008, tribal officials had hoped to start building a casino in Twentynine Palms with 350 slot machines, two restaurants and a bowling and billiards center. The $25 million project also included a 250-room hotel and sprawling RV park.
It was slated for 160 acres of reservation land close to the Marine Corps base where 18,000 people live and work.
But the proposed Nüwü Casino Resort & RV Park drew widespread criticism because it was also less than one mile from the entrance of Joshua Tree National Park.
The idea was shelved until a few months ago, when tribal representatives began discussing a new plan to build a much smaller casino 15 miles west in Joshua Tree.
Tribal officials did not return calls from The Desert Sun about the proposal.
The casino, roughly half the size of the average grocery store, would be built on 90 acres that the tribe purchased in 2007.
The property is on the north side of Highway 62, across the street from the Hi-Desert Medical Center and a California Highway Patrol station.
Tribal officials haven't ruled out expanding the property to include an RV park, golf course or hotel, according to Victoria Fuller, president of the Joshua Tree Community Association.
The group has hosted several meetings on the plan but is staying neutral in the debate.
But Fuller, a 15-year Joshua Tree resident, said she personally opposes the tribe's plans because she fears it wouldn't fit into the community's own development plans.
“It is right in the center of Joshua Tree. We would be impacted by the traffic, the lights,” she said.
“It's such a special place. We have visitors from all around the world. ... You realize what an oasis it is for quiet and night sky. It would change all that.”
She's not alone in her opposition.
About 1,400 of Joshua Tree's 7,400 residents have signed a petition against the casino.
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein also sent letter of opposition to U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, asking him to block the tribe's efforts to start off-reservation gaming.
“Hundreds of Joshua Tree community members have contacted me and my staff to express a wide array of concerns about the impacts on regional tourism, crime, poverty, alcoholism and gambling addiction,” Feinstein wrote in the Nov. 16 letter.
“This is not the appropriate place to develop a casino and I ask that you reject any forthcoming two-part determination for this site.”
Off-reservation gaming is possible through an exemption in the federal law that generally prohibits gaming on reservations established after 1988. The exemptions were created to give Indian tribes whose reservation lands were far from population centers the ability to acquire land closer to potential customers.
With approval from the federal and state governments, California tribes can get non-reservation land put into a trust and available for gaming.
In September, the Department of Interior announced that two California tribes had the go-ahead for their proposed gaming sites.
The Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Indians is building a casino on a 40-acre site located 36 miles from the tribe's Butte County headquarters north of Sacramento.
The North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians in Madera County is eyeing 305 acres on land that's also nearly 40 miles from the tribe's base.
By law, Brown has one year to concur with the federal endorsement. If not, the tribes can't build casinos there.
Brown spokeswoman Elizabeth Ashford said the governor doesn't have a blanket policy on off-reservation gaming.
“Different casinos have different circumstances with them,” Ashford said. “When we're evaluating, it is done on a case-by-case basis.”
No other Coachella Valley tribes have announced plans to expand gaming to off-reservation land.
The question of expansion of casinos onto off-reservation land comes at a critical point for Indian tribes, many of which are hoping the state and federal government will give them the go-ahead for online poker.
Even if Internet gaming is legalized, Stand Up for California's Schmit thinks there will still be a customer base for bricks-and-mortar casinos.
“We're still in an era when there is that part of our population that really doesn't like the Internet,” Schmit said.
“They're trying to appeal to the youth, and yet you have to appeal to their regular market, which are senior citizens who don't spend as much time on the Internet.”
It's not clear how quickly the Twenty-Nine Palms tribe might move on their plans for a high desert casino.
If the tribe does forge ahead — and if it gets the necessary approvals — Fuller hopes officials will respect the community's vision for the area.
“Local community interest has to be taken into consideration,” she said. “
“Once it is taken out of the (community) plan, there's just no going back.”