Windsor sounds off on Koi Nation resort and casino environmental documents

Residents decried many facets of the environmental review and proposed mitigations for the proposed resort and casino.

photo credit: Courtesy of the Koi Nation of Northern California
An official image of the proposed resort and casino, which would rise southeast of the intersection of Shiloh Rd and Old Redwood Highway.

Windsor residents sounded off this week against a proposed casino during a public hearing held to assure the town's official response is comprehensive.

About a dozen people addressed the council, uniformly against the proposal---offering a wide range of critiques of the multi-billion dollar proposal, which would rise just outside the town limits.

Betsy Mallace told the Town Council that documents submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs by the Koi Nation have glaring errors.

"The property lies on the Rogers Creek fault zone. Evacuation is necessary for an earthquake, there is no plan for that. There's no plan or mitigation for a flood, it is on a flood plain, there is no plan or mitigation for loss of electricity or power. It happened once, clearly it could happen again," Mallace said

Citing earlier land use suits filed by the Koi Nation over land-use plans in Lake County, Chris Lamela argued the tribe's project should be disqualified.

"The filings in these lawsuits show the arrogance, the arrogance of the Koi Tribe as they lay claim to Lake County as their homeland, while they are now declaring Sonoma County as their homeland. Sorry guys, only one homeland to a customer," Lamela said.

Resident Don Ziskin found fault with the project's traffic plan.

"It claims over 5,000 cars can be evacuated in under one hour. But it doesn't address traffic jams that will occur as the panicked customers are trying to get out of there, nor what will happen if there is an accident on one of the roads. There's no substantive information on the training or evacuation procedures or what the training will be given to the employees, other than saying it will be given," Ziskin argued before the council.

Harold Minkin suggested any new casino would simply rob customers from other facilities.

"We're oversaturated with casinos in Sonoma County," Minkin said.

Catherine Dodd predicted the resort and casino would potentially increase serious traffic accidents.

"I would suggest looking at the data from Graton before it was built and after it was built in terms of drunk driving and then doubling it because this is twice the size, and do a further analysis. We could have drink limits, we could have breathalyzer tests before leaving," Dodd said.

Realtor and mortgage loan officer Marty McCormick said word of the project is scaring away would-be homebuyers.

"People are asking us about the casino, they don't want to live near a casino. We've already lost 20 percent of our equity and most of our people are senior citizens. Esposti Park, my kids played there, I got grandkids playing baseball there, they are not going to be able to do that. We came to Windsor, it was a family place, it still is, and it's important to keep it that way. One other point, when those people drink, forget breathalyzers, OK? When they drink, they are going come go into my neighborhood and sober up, OK? Or, they are going to go the back roads to avoid detection, and when that happens, we're going to be hitting people on Chalk Hill, on Faught Road and we've got a school on Faught Road," McCormick said.

Michael Brook says the resort and casino are in the wrong place.

"I think that it is outrageous that you would build a casino across the street from a residential district, I feel very, very sorry for those people and I am sure that their property values are being affected. I also think that it is outrageous that you would build a casino across from a T-Ball park, a little league,' Brook said.

Tanya Potter, Windsor's vice mayor said the project will bring danger to the community.

"Anytime that there's a casino or a hotel that goes in, there a huge risk for human trafficking, that's a big concern to me for the teenagers in our neighborhood, and to say that passing out a brochure is going to help the human trafficking issue is just not enough. What's not mentioned is the increase that there will be in theft, car theft, mail theft, identity theft," Potter said.

She added that, that specific element of concern wasn't included in the town's draft letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which must lend its approval before the project may move forward.

"Where are they going to get the money when they have huge losses at the casino? Right? We know that brings criminal activity, and, so that's a concern for me that was not addressed at all," Potter continued.

Windsor is scheduled to hold another public hearing August 21st to finalize the city's response. That letter is slated to be sent to the BIA  before the public comment deadline of August 26th.

Marc Albert, KRCB Sonoma County News