By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer

It’s not the biggest and it’s not the closest, but the Santa Ysabel Resort and Casino, which opens to the public today, has an enviable view of Lake Henshaw and the surrounding mountains.

Tribal leaders said Wednesday they hope the scenic beauty of the remote, northeastern part of the county will attract visitors to generate enough revenue to help the band’s 700 members climb out of poverty.

“It’s been a long, long time to get to this point,” said Ron Christman, a member of the tribe. “It goes to show how far we’ve come.”

The tribe invited hundreds of its members, leaders of neighboring tribes and other guests to a private ceremony celebrating the opening of the $27 million, 35,000-square-foot facility. Vice Chairwoman Brandie Taylor said the casino will help create opportunities for her young son and everyone in the tribe.

“This is an avenue not only for him, but all the members of the tribe to have an education, to have infrastructure, electricity — to have a future,” she told a cheering crowd.

The facility, designed to look like a mountain lodge, has a 150-seat buffet restaurant, an entertainment stage and brewery-style bar. But the bar will be dry until the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control issues an alcohol license.

County officials protested the license, saying they object to issuing the license until the tribe completes road improvements on Highway 79 leading to the casino’s driveway.

Robin Van Dyke, district director for Alcoholic Beverage Control, said the department has not issued the license.

“The license was approved, but it’s being held, and we are waiting to hear from the county that the tribe has done what it needs to do before it is released,” Van Dyke said.

Doug Lentz, a consultant hired by the tribe to help build the casino, said the tribe is complying with requirements of the state Department of Transportation, which maintains the road. He said the improvements will take eight weeks to complete.

For years, the Santa Ysabel band, near Julian, watched other North County tribes build mega-casinos with large hotels and luxury resorts. It passed on an opportunity to sign an agreement, or compact, with the state in 1999 to allow gambling on its 15,000-acre reservation.

Four years ago, several new tribal council members who favored building a casino were elected. They negotiated one of the last compacts under Gov. Gray Davis. The agreement included more stringent requirements.

Unlike previous agreements between tribes and the county, which dealt largely with traffic and road problems, the new agreement required the tribe to provide at least $300,000 each year to pay for programs to help treat gambling problems and addictions.

The tribe is also required to pay $250,000 for law enforcement costs the first year, plus annual payments of at least $100,000 for the district attorney caseload and Sheriff’s Department costs.

Among other things, the tribe agreed to pay for ambulance services, monitor ground-water levels, build a wastewater treatment plant on the reservation, and work with Caltrans to build improvements to Highway 79 near the casino site.

John Snyder, director of the county’s Department of Public Works, said he received a report on Wednesday detailing the tribe’s efforts to comply with their agreement. He said he had not had enough time to read the report, but that “it would appear they did a pretty good effort” to meet the requirements.

At the casino, tribal members and their guests celebrated with speeches and traditional bird songs followed by the sound of slot machines in action.

Santa Ysabel Chairman Johnny Hernandez, 54, said opening the casino will help build better roads on the reservation, provide health care for members, education for children and a center for seniors.

“We just got open and now we got to pay our bills,” he said. “But we’ve got to take care of our tribal community.”

– Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.
© 1997-2007 North County Times

Posted on April 11th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: Gaming