KCOY-TV
SB County Supervisors Reject Dialogue Offer with
Chumash
Posted: Aug 20, 2013 5:21 PM PDT
Updated: Aug 20, 2013 5:21 PM PDT
By Keith Carls - email
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY - Some are calling it one of the biggest land
use decisions in the history of Santa Barbara County.
The Camp 4 controversy in the Santa Ynez Valley is far from over.
The Chumash Tribe has gone to great lengths to publicize its future
intentions for the nearly 1400 acres it owns at the northeast corner of
Highways 246 and 154 also known as Camp 4.
The Tribe says it wants to build more than 140 homes for its tribal
members and their offspring saying its existing reservation is over-built and
land-locked and that it has no plans to build a new casino on the sprawling
property.
The Tribe made another effort to open so called "government to
government" dialogue with Santa Barbara County on the future of Camp 4
and thousands of other acres in the Santa Ynez Valley under what the
Tribe calls a Tribal Consolidation Area.
"I believe its time for Santa Barbara County to step up to the plate and
recognize the Tribe as a government and have those dialogues", said
Chumash Tribal Chairman Vincent Armenta, "it would stop, it would
eliminate all of the confusion that's going on, the Tribal Consolidation Plan,
you just heard about it, why did you just hear about it?, Because we do not
have a dialogue."
Dozens of Santa Ynez Valley residents urged County Supervisors to reject
the Tribe's offer for official government dialogue while a few others spoke
in support of the Tribe.
"When you talk about a government to government dialogue on a property
that is currently not on a reservation, that can send a message that the
County somehow de facto supports that application", said Third District
Supervisor Doreen Farr who represents the Santa Ynez Valley, "as we
have heard the application for Fee-to-Trust is not before us, we have not
been officially been notified by the BIA (Bureau of India Affairs) that its
been filed much less that it is ready for our comments, and so that kind of
dialogue on that piece of property is premature at this point in time, to say
the least."
The Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to turn down the offer for governmentto-government dialogue with the Tribe, Fifth District Supervisor Steve
Lavagnino and First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal voted in favor of
talks.
The Tribe was encouraged to go through the existing County Planning
process in developing the Camp 4 property like every other private
property owner in the valley.
The Board's decision does not stop the Tribe's Fee-to-Trust application for
the Camp 4 property as well as its proposed "Tribal Consolidation Area".