A coalition of the county's Kumeyaay Indian tribes filed a lawsuit
yesterday in Washington D.C. claiming the right to develop part of their
ancestral homeland at the defunct Naval Training Center.

The Campo Band of Mission Indians and the Kumeyaay Tribal Coalition are
asking the federal courts to block the Navy from transferring the former
Naval Training Center, or NTC, to the city of San Diego.

Named as defendants are the Defense and Interior departments and the city
of San Diego.

The tribes are asking that San Diego be ordered to pay $5 million for
"wrongful prejudicial actions" the tribes say prevented them from
redeveloping the 550-acre property just west of Lindbergh Field.

The city is negotiating with the Navy over the terms of transferring title
to the property -- an action city officials anticipated occurring by next
spring.

At the same time, city representatives are negotiating with developer Corky
McMillin for the job of master developer for a 435-acre redevelopment plan
adopted by the city and the Navy. City officials said this week that an
agreement is on track to be signed by February or March.

Louie Guassac ,tribal coordinator of the Kumeyaay coalition, said the
lawsuit is a last resort.  He said the federal government failed to properly
represent Indian interests and the city gave their competing
redevelopmental proposal short shrift.

Deputy City Attorney Rick Duvernay said the city of San Diego held an
exhaustive and fair process in which five development proposals were
reviewed by a city selection panel.  He said the Indian proposal was
rejected because it did not follow city guidelines.

Officials from the Departments of Defense and the Interior could not be
reached for comment.

After nearly 75 years of preparing sailors for service, the NTC was closed
in April 1997 as part of a nationwide military base consolidation.

The Indians, who trace their ancestry 10,000 years to coastal villages
stretching from Encinitas to Ensenada, say they had rights to the NTC under
federal law.

The Indians filing the lawsuit are located in the northern and eastern
parts of the county.  The tribes are the Campo, Barona, Ewiiaapaayp,
Inaja-Cosmit, Jamul, La Posta, Manzanita, Mesa Grande, San Pasqual, Santa
Ysabel, Sycuan and Viejas.