Members of the Koi Nation, a tribe now federally recognized as part of the southeastern Pomo people of Sonoma County, are planning to build a $600 million hotel and casino in an unincorporated part of the county north of Santa Rosa.
The Shiloh Casino and Resort will have 200 rooms, as planned, as well as a casino, spa, six restaurants and food service areas, and meeting rooms, as the SF Business Times reports. This will be a non-smoking casino, and the facility will include 2,500 slot machines and table games, as Casino.org notes — but in order to qualify for status as a full-fledged casino, the tribe will still need to negotiate a revenue-sharing agreement with the state.
The site for the casino is a 68-acre former winery on East Shiloh Road, near the Mayacama Golf Course, south of Windsor, and across the 101 freeway from the Sonoma County Airport.
Sonoma County is already home to two other Native American casinos: River Rock Casino, near Geyserville; and Graton Resort & Casino, in Rohnert Park.
"The Koi Nation has had to struggle harder than almost any other tribe in California to re-establish our sovereignty," said Tribal Chairman Darin Beltran in a statement. "Despite this treatment, however, we have endured. It is time to exercise our rights as a federally recognized Tribe to have our own land and to control our own destiny."
The Koi Nation has only had federal recognition since 2019, which confers the right to establish a sovereign land base.
"When in full operation, the Shiloh Casino and Resort will employ more than 1,100 full-time workers and provide benefits for the entire Sonoma community," the Koi Nation tribe said in a statement. "The Koi Nation anticipates that a portion of the resort’s revenues will be shared with the broader community through the support of local organizations as well as collaborating with local governments and community members to address their needs."
The tribe, whose original home was an island in Clear Lake, later resettled in the area of the Russian River. They have been largely landless for the last 150 years. Currently, as Casino.org notes, the tribe has around 90 members.
Beltran added, "With this land and the Shiloh Resort and Casino, we are taking long overdue steps to preserve our cultural and historic integrity and secure a brighter future for coming generations."
An environmental review of the project and the public comment period are slated to begin in the next few months.
Read more https://sfist.com/2021/09/15/northern-sonoma-county-to-get-another-tribal-casino/
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