Workshop packed over water supply for Shingle Springs casino

A workshop seeking public comment on whether the El Dorado Irrigation District should supply water to an Indian casino under construction in Shingle Springs drew an overflow crowd Monday.

Members of the community filled the boardroom and adjoining foyer as the district's legal counsel and engineers reviewed a recent legal opinion and the district's ability to serve the casino without jeopardizing service to existing customers.

Directors stressed that the workshop, conducted by the board's legal and legislation standing committee, was intended as an informational session, and no board action would be considered until May 12.

County Supervisor Ron Briggs, whose district includes the Shingle Springs Rancheria and the Red Hawk Casino, said he believed the board had decided to serve the casino.

"I'm here to ask you not to," Briggs said. "We're working our rear ends off in this county to keep water for current residents," he said.

But Judy Mathat, president of the Shingle Springs-Cameron Park Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber supports business and economic ventures on the rancheria. She asked the district board to consider the request for water service "with no prejudices."

District directors in 2002 denied the request by the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians to provide water for a planned casino and hotel on the 160-acre rancheria north of Highway 50 between Shingle Springs Drive and Greenstone Road. They cited restrictions imposed by the El Dorado Local Agency Formation Commission in 1989, when the rancheria annexed to the district, limiting water service to 40 residences, a community building and garden plots. LAFCO rules on government reorganizations in the county.

But district counsel Tom Cumpston said Monday that a recent opinion by the U.S. Department of the Interior Solicitor General's Office questioning the validity of LAFCO's restrictions had convinced him that the board should reconsider its position.

The solicitor general's opinion indicated that if LAFCO's intention was to regulate use of the tribe's land, a court likely would find that federal law preempts the restrictions.

Cumpston cited minutes from LAFCO meetings in 1988, in which commission members expressed concern about future development on the rancheria, as evidence that land use was an issue.

Had it not been for LAFCO's restrictions, he said, the district would have evaluated the rancheria's 2002 request for water service as it would have a request for any other project.

Brian Mueller, co-manager of the district's drinking water division, said the district has enough water to serve the casino without compromising service to existing customers.

The additional service the tribe requests is the equivalent of the water required for about 216 average dwelling units, or about one-tenth of the water available for sale in the district's Western/Eastern supply area, he said.

District engineer Brian Cooper said the tribe is constructing a 500,000-gallon water storage tank near the freeway and a 3 million-gallon recycled-water storage tank on the hilltop near the casino to supply fire hydrants. The recycled water will be provided by the rancheria's new wastewater treatment plant.

Cumpston noted that the El Dorado Irrigation District does not provide sewer service in that part of the district.

Tribal chairman Nick Fonseca said the casino is 46 percent complete and should be finished about Nov. 1. A new Highway 50 interchange to serve the rancheria is about 75 percent complete and is scheduled to open in October, and the wastewater treatment plant will be ready for operation by early September.

"I don't have to buy your water," he told the board, but the alternative would involve hauling in up to 25 truckloads of water a day.

"We would like to be a partner with you and the county," Fonseca said.

Several people who live near the rancheria said their primary concern was the effect serving the casino would have on water supplies and water pressure in their neighborhoods.

"We're not going to oppose the rancheria getting water," said Ken Lee, a resident of the Grassy Run neighborhood. "We just want to live with them and have good water service."

District staff members said current water pressure would be maintained or improved in neighborhoods bordering the rancheria.

Other people said 25 water trucks traveling to and from the casino would create a safety hazard on Highway 50, and urged the district to provide water service to avoid such traffic.

But Shingle Springs resident Art Marinaccio argued that in addition to assuring service to existing customers, the district has an obligation to serve development anticipated in the general plan, the county's blueprint for growth. An analysis is needed to determine whether serving the casino would jeopardize water supplies for developable land in the Shingle Springs community region, he said.