Proposed Vallejo casino hit with another lawsuit

May 12-The Lytton Rancheria tribe has filed a lawsuit claiming the city violated state environmental laws in an agreement with the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians regarding a "very small" casino in Vallejo.

The Vallejo City Council voted on April 14 to provide fire, police, and water services for a "very small casino operation" of up to 100 Class II gaming machines and an office for the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians near the intersection of Interstate 80 and Highway 37.

The council voted 4-2 in favor, with Mayor Andrea Sorce, who opposed the agreement, absent. Councilmembers Alexander Matias and Tonia Lediju voted against.

At the April 14 meeting, during public comment, Andy Mejia, the tribal chair of the Lytton Rancheria of California, said, "If the city goes ahead with the decision, Lytton Rancheria will litigate."

Lytton's complaint alleges that the city didn't "meaningfully" consult with tribes whose cultural resources would be impacted, as required under the law, and the agreement extended municipal services outside the city's jurisdictional boundary without getting approval from the county.

The complaint also claims that the agreement - technically a memorandum of understanding -violates the California Environmental Quality Act. According to the legal document, "the City failed to conduct any meaningful review of the significant environmental impacts that may result from the provision of municipal services to support a gaming operation on 160 acres of federal trust land."

However, the agreement in question only applies to three parcels of land and the temporary trailers housing the small casino operation, specifically defined as the subject property" in the memorandum of understanding - not the $700 million, 160-acre casino the tribe is proposing.

The full-on casino would occupy 160 acres and include 24 single-family residences, a tribal administration building, a parking garage, and a 45-acre biological preserve. The "subject property" covered by the agreement only comprises a smaller portion of this land. As set forth in the memorandum of understanding, those parcels are Parcels 182020080, 182020010, and 182020020.

In response, "You have to assess the impacts prior to construction. What we're saying is CEQA requires you to look at all those parcels and all the impacts, even though that's not going to happen with two trailers that are already there," said Tristan Stidham, general counsel for the Lytton Rancheria of California. Stidham is a member of the Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley.

"We believe CEQA requires (the city) to review not just the temporary casino but the full-scale casino, even though the full-scale casino doesn't exist and may not exist," Stidham said.

He was referring to the fact that the casino is already tied up in federal litigation initiated by another tribe, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, against the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, and may never become a reality.

Scotts Valley is still waiting for approval from the United States Department of the Interior. The federal agency continues to reconsider whether or not the tribe is eligible for gaming on the site, after issuing an initial approval in January 2025.

The federal government acknowledged the approval may have been a "legal error" and walked it back in March 2025. The department initiated a reconsideration process following multiple lawsuits by other local tribes opposed to the project.

In its lawsuit filed this month, Lytton is seeking the court to order the city to set the agreement aside, refrain from taking any action to implement it, and comply with CEQA before taking any further action to implement the MOU or issue related permits.

The Lytton Rancheria operates a casino in the City of San Pablo, south of Vallejo off the Interstate 80 corridor, and anticipates a drop in its revenue should a rival casino open in Vallejo, according to the complaint.

"The federal government's Environmental Assessment for Scotts Valley's proposed casino projected that the San Pablo Lytton Casino would experience a "sharp negative" 21 percent reduction in annual gaming revenue as a result of the project," according to the complaint.

The casino in question is a Class II gaming facility, the San Pablo Lytton Casino, operated by the Lytton Rancheria.

"Lytton continues to operate the San Pablo Lytton Casino as a Class II casino with approximately 1,580 electronically-assisted bingo devices. The San Pablo Lytton Casino is located approximately 16 miles from the site of Scotts Valley's proposed casino project," the complaint says.

That casino's customers come from the North Bay region, including Solano County, according to the complaint.

Patrick Bergin, counsel to the Scotts Valley tribe, said in an emailed statement, "This case appears to be about economic competition, not legal principle. Lytton has already benefited from the same federal trust land process it now seeks to challenge - effectively attempting to pull the ladder up behind it."

According to Bergin, Lytton's own local government agreements governing its trust land expressly recognize exemption from CEQA.

In his statement, Bergin continued, "This lawsuit disregards well-established law and is designed to delay a lawful agreement with the City of Vallejo. We are confident in the City's process."

Councilmembers Alexander Matias and Tonia Lediju voted against the memorandum of understanding in the April 14 meeting.

Lediju pointed out that the Scotts Valley tribe had initially told the city the trailers currently occupying the site would be used as offices, not gaming.

Going by that information, the council voted in September to consider the agreement, which then came up for a vote in April.

However, after the council's September vote, the tribe changed its request to include the use of the temporary buildings for what the tribe's attorney Patrick Bergin described April 14 as "a very small casino operation."

Lediju said, "You are having to build trust with the community. What was the initial request you made of the city when you put those temporary buildings up there? They were to be office buildings. The way that unfolded was a very distrustful way.

"If you want me to engage in an MOU, there has to be honesty in the process," Lediju said.

Lediju, a former auditor for the City of San Francisco, noted that the agreement was limited to $500,000 in cost recovery, without accommodations for expansion. She also noted that there was no clear mechanism to renegotiate terms.

In March, Vallejo Mayor Andrea Sorce told the Times-Herald, "I have maintained since the outset that I believe the city should let the federal process play out and remain neutral out of respect for that process.

"That is why last year I voted against both the DOI comment letter on May 27 and the memorandum of understanding on Sept. 30," Sorce said. "My position is that it is not our place to take sides in a sovereign land dispute, nor should we be getting involved in projects while the reconsideration is in process."cou

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