County will have a key ‘say’ in huge Thunder Valley expansion
 The
United Auburn Indian Community’s megamillion-dollar expansion plan for
its Thunder Valley Casino near Lincoln will indeed undergo intense
scrutiny by the County of Placer despite the tribe’s sovereignty.
The tribe’s plan for enlarging the four-year-old casino is, to put it mildly, spectacular.
The
plan envisions a 23-story, 650-room hotel — by far the tallest
structure in Placer County — as well as a 3,000-seat performing arts
theater, ballrooms, a nine-story garage for parking 5,000 vehicles,
additional restaurants and, of course, more space in which to gamble.
The project would involve at least 1,000 construction
jobs and, once it was completed, 1,200 new jobs would be added to the
Thunder Valley payroll, which now numbers close to 2,000.
Thunder
Valley is located on tribal land north of Roseville and south of
Lincoln but closer to the latter. And the county has done well by it,
receiving more than $2.5 million annually in lieu of property taxes.
When the expansion is completed, the county’s in-lieu take could be
more than $10 million plus another $1.3 million in hotel room occupancy
tax revenue.
According to terms of the memorandum of understanding
(MOU) the county has with the United Auburn Indian Community, the tribe
must prepare a “California Environmental Quality Act”-like document
that will be submitted to Michael Johnson, the county’s planning
director, who then must make a determination if it meets state and
county planning guidelines. The tribe is expected to employ top-tier
planning and engineering consultants to ensure the plan passes muster.
County officials are said to be particularly interested in the safety factors connected with the proposed skyscraper hotel.
District 2 Supervisor Robert Weygandt said the public will have plenty of chances to comment on the proposal.
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