The county has a new team negotiating in future discussions with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, following the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors’ Jan. 10 meeting.
The board’s newest members Joan Hartmann and Das Williams—the 1st and 3rd district supervisors, respectively—will step in for Peter Adam and Doreen Farr as the county’s Chumash ad hoc subcommittee. The subcommittee began meeting with the Chumash in September 2015 to negotiate terms for the tribe to make Camp 4, a 1,400-acre parcel of Chumash-owned land, part of its federal reservation.
Since they began, the county-Chumash meetings have been irregular, tedious, and at times contentious. At the last meeting in October 2016, the tribe and subcommittee began to close in on agreements pertaining to property tax reimbursement, building codes, environmental impact mitigation, and sales and transient occupancy tax.
But then the county placed a hiatus on public negotiations for the second time since they began, which Chumash Tribal Chairman Kenneth Kahn called “a political calculation and an effort to delay progress.”
The board said the break from meetings was to allow for Hartmann and Williams to settle in to their new supervisor positions. Now that the subcommittee members have been sworn in and stepped up to the challenge of negotiating terms for Camp 4, Kahn told the Sun that he is prepared to resume the meetings.
“We’re looking forward to kicking off the new year with some good dialogue with the two new members of the board and the ad hoc subcommittee,” Kahn said.
He said their next meeting isn’t scheduled yet, as the county and tribe have been in a “holding pattern” while waiting for the new Board of Supervisors to take shape.
“Now we just need to take the opportunity to set a date,” Kahn said. “I haven’t had any conversations with them yet. I know they have a lot on their plate as supervisors, and I don’t know what kind of time they need to prepare to start off with the meetings. We’re certainly willing to work with them on whatever works best with scheduling.”
Camp 4 remains a crucial priority for the Chumash, who say they need the land for tribal housing. The tribe is pursuing several avenues—including federal legislation—to make sure the land comes into trust, but Kahn said he wants to make sure the tribe is on the same page as the county regarding mitigation factors.
“Our focus has always been that tribal housing on tribal land is about preserving a tribal community,” Kahn said. “It’s not just putting a roof over one’s head. As tribal people, we have a culture to preserve and a need to protect our customs, language, and tradition.”
In its Jan. 10 closed-session meeting, the Board of Supervisors met with county legal counsel to discuss existing litigation between the county and the Bureau of Indian Affairs concerning Camp 4. In March 2016, the county entered a legal brief claiming the bureau’s environmental review of Camp 4 was incomplete, among other allegations.
The board voted 3-2 to file further litigation in case the Interior Board of Indian Appeals issues an adverse ruling to the existing lawsuit. Supervisors Janet Wolf, Hartmann, and Adam voted yes, while Williams and Steve Lavagnino voted no.
This article appears in Jan 19-26, 2017.