Chumash and Santa Barbara County push forward toward Camp 4 agreement

The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians met with the Santa Barbara County Ad Hoc Subcommittee for the ninth time on Oct. 21 to negotiate the terms for Camp 4, a 1,400-acre parcel of land the tribe aims to make part of its reservation and use as tribal member housing.

While previous meetings were stagnant and at times contentious, the October session sparked long-awaited optimism on both sides of the table. The Chumash came to the meeting with proposed compromises on several sticking points in the negotiation process, including property tax reimbursement, building codes and environmental impact mitigation, and sales and transient occupancy tax (TOT).

click to enlarge Chumash and Santa Barbara County push forward toward Camp 4 agreement
IMAGE COURTESY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY
CAMP 4: The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians and the Santa Barbara County Ad Hoc Subcommittee met recently to negotiate the terms for the 1,400-acre parcel of land referred to as Camp 4, which the tribe wants to make a part of its reservation and use as housing for its members.

Regarding property taxes, the tribe agreed to pay to the county the standard 38 percent of 1 percent of Camp 4’s assessed value, “but only on the improvements on the portions that are distributed as land assignments for the tribal members alive when Camp 4 was acquired in 2010 and their descendants and to be used by them for housing,” according to the written proposal.

The tribe also agreed to “implement in good faith relevant portions of the Santa Ynez Valley Community Plan” for building codes and environmental impact mitigations, and to levy a tribal sales and TOT tax equal to that of the county on Camp 4, even though the tribe has stated that it doesn’t plan to generate sales or TOT from the property.

Tribal Chairman Kenneth Kahn said the tribe had publicly discussed the terms and reached the conclusion to compromise on those points.

“These terms are certainly something we’ve given a lot of thought to,” Kahn said at the meeting. “We’re doing the best we can to compromise and find a nice balance.”

Subcommittee member and 4th District Supervisor Peter Adam, who has been tough on negotiation terms, was pleased with the steps forward.

“I really appreciate the amount of movement you guys have made here,” he said. “This is the beginning of, I think, something we can really work with.”

Most public commenters expressed appreciation, as well, though resident Jim Marino brought up a point that either party has yet to concede: gaming terms.

The ad hoc subcommittee has requested that the tribe include a no-gaming clause in its terms for Camp 4, and the tribe has refused, claiming that federal law would already prohibit gaming on Camp 4 and that should be enough.

Kahn expressed at the Sept. 8 meeting that the Chumash’s sovereign right to game is something the tribe is willing to surrender to the federal government, but not to a local government, thus including a no-gaming clause in a county agreement would impede on the tribe’s sovereignty. At the end of that meeting, subcommittee member and 3rd District Supervisor Doreen Farr said she was starting to see the Chumash’s side of things—but on Oct. 21, Marino revived the issue.

“Why don’t they just state in the contract,” Marino asked, “‘We won’t engage in gaming on that land?’”

Adam added that the gaming issue would be “a tough pill for us to swallow,” and that he expects further pushback on that issue.

The parties did not settle on a November meeting date, but they will be meeting again on Thursday, Dec. 8, to continue negotiations.

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