(04-06) 10:34 PDT Richmond -- Shock and disappointment rippled through a Mendocino County tribe Wednesday after the Richmond City Council axed the group's plan to build a five-star casino on the Point Molate shoreline.
"The council, midway through the process, changed its mind. We do not know how or why," said Michael Derry, chief executive of the
The council voted 5-2 early Wednesday to kill the $1 billion project, which would have brought a Las Vegas-style casino, hotel, convention center, ferry terminal, parks and housing for the tribe's 112 members.
Since the project was first proposed six years ago, the city and tribe sparred over issues such as traffic, historic preservation of the Winehaven buildings on the site, smoking rules, design, Bay Trail funding and the tribe's commitment to hire city residents.
Ultimately, those issues swayed Councilman Tom Butt to oppose the project after he had initially supported it.
"The developer was simply unwilling to compromise on a number of potentially troubling parts of the project," Butt said. "For me, personally, the time had run out."
The tribe has 120 days to propose an alternative, non-casino plan to the city. It's also looking into legal options, Derry said.
The tribe paid the city more than $15 million in fees to retain development rights, and the city approved the environmental impact report on March 8. Planning, design and legal assistance cost the tribe another $15 million, Derry said.
The casino would have been on the site of the former Naval Fuel Depot, which closed in 1998. The tribe garnered the support of environmental groups when it agreed to keep the resort on the same footprint as the Navy depot, and set aside 180 acres, or two-thirds of the property, as open space.
Another deciding factor for the council was Measure U, an advisory measure on the Nov. 2 ballot in which 58 percent of Richmond voters said they were opposed to the casino.
Councilman Nat Bates, who supported the project, said he liked the $20 million the casino would have generated for the city annually, and the 17,000 jobs it would have created.
"It looked like a win-win that would have benefited a large segment of our population," he said. "Now I think we're potentially going to have a litigation problem, and who's going to pay for that?"
No one was happier to see the project end than officials in neighboring San Pablo, where Casino San Pablo is the economic lifeblood of the city.
"Basically, Point Molate casino meant disaster for us," said San Pablo City Councilman Leonard McNeil. "We need to look at plans that benefit the economic development of both cities."
This is not the end of casinos in Richmond, however. The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians has an agreement with Richmond to open a casino called Sugar Bowl along the waterfront in unincorporated North Richmond.
Contra Costa County, which has jurisdiction over the land, opposes the project, said Supervisor John Gioia.
"We are against the expansion of urban gaming" he said.
E-mail Carolyn Jones at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
This article appeared on page C - 6 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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