[Federal Register: July 2, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 126)]
[Notices]
[Page 31747-31748]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02jy09-76]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Soboba Band of
Luise[ntilde]o Indians' Proposed 534-Acre Trust Acquisition and Casino
Project, Riverside County, California
AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) as lead agency, with the Soboba Band of Luise[ntilde]o
Indians (Tribe), City of San Jacinto and U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) as cooperating agencies, intends to file a Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) with the EPA for the Tribe's
proposed 534.91 acre trust acquisition and subsequent
construction of a hotel/casino project to be located within the City of
San Jacinto, Riverside County, California, and that the DEIS is now
available for public review and comment. This notice provides a 75-day
public comment period and thereby grants a 30-day extension to the
normal 45-day public comment period.
DATES: The DEIS will be available for public comment beginning July 2,
2009. Written comments on the DEIS must arrive by September 15, 2009. A
public hearing will be held on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 starting at 6
p.m. to 9 p.m. or until the last public comment is received.
ADDRESSES: You may mail or hand-carry written comments to Dale Morris,
Regional Director, Pacific Region, Bureau of Indian Affairs 2800
Cottage Way, Sacramento, California 95825.
The public hearing will be held at: Hemet Public Library, 2nd
Floor, 300 E. Latham, Hemet, CA 92543
See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for locations where the DEIS will be
available for review and instructions for submitting comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Rydzik, (916) 978-6051.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Soboba Band of Luise[ntilde]o Indians
(Tribe) has requested the BIA to acquire 34 parcels totaling
534.91 acres of land currently held in fee by the Tribe
into trust, of which the Tribe proposes to develop approximately 55
acres into a destination hotel/casino complex. The Tribe proposes to
relocate its existing casino, which presently resides on trust lands,
to the project site. In addition to the fee-to-trust action and casino
relocation, the proposed action also includes the development of a 300-
room hotel, casino, restaurants, retail establishments, a convention
center, an events arena, and a spa and fitness center, within a
729,500 square-foot complex. The proposed developments also
include a Tribal fire station, and a 12-pump gas station with a 6,000
square-foot convenience store.
Approximately 300 acres (56 percent) of the project site is
incorporated in the City of San Jacinto, California, while the
remainder is within unincorporated Riverside County, California. The
proposed hotel and casino complex would be generally located at the
intersection of Soboba Road and Lake Park Drive and abut the existing
Soboba Springs Country Club. Lake Park Drive may or may not be
realigned as part of the proposed action contingent upon consultation
with the City of San Jacinto.
The BIA, serving as the lead agency for compliance with the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), published a Notice of Intent
(NOI) to prepare the EIS for the proposed action in the Federal
Register on December 14, 2007. The EPA and the City of San Jacinto have
accepted invitations to be cooperating agencies, as entities having
jurisdiction by law or special expertise relevant to environmental
issues.
BIA held a public scoping meeting on January 8, 2008, at the Hemet
Public Library in Hemet, California. From that scoping meeting, a range
of project alternatives were developed and subsequently analyzed in the
DEIS, including: (1) Proposed Action A--Hotel/Casino Complex with
Realignment of Lake Park Drive; (2) Proposed Action B--Hotel/Casino
Complex without Realignment of Lake Park Drive; (3) Reduced Hotel/
Casino Complex; (4) Hotel and Convention Center (No Casino Relocation);
(5) Commercial Enterprise (No Casino or Hotel); and (6) No Action
alternative. Environmental issues addressed in the
[[Page 31748]]
DEIS include land resources; water resources; air quality; biological
resources; cultural resources; economic and socioeconomic conditions;
resource use patterns; public services; other values including noise,
hazardous materials, and visual resources; cumulative effects; indirect
effects; growth inducing effects; and mitigation measures.
Directions for Submitting Comments
Please include your name, return address, and the caption: ``DEIS
Comments, Soboba Band of Luise[ntilde]o Indians' Casino Project,'' on
the first page of your written comments and submit comments to the BIA
address listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.
Public Availability of the DEIS
The DEIS will be available for review at:
The San Jacinto Public Library, 500 Idyllwild Dr., San
Jacinto, CA 92583, telephone (951) 654-8635; and
The Hemet Public Library, 2nd Floor, 300 E. Latham, Hemet,
CA 92543, telephone (951) 765-2440.
The DEIS is also available on the following Web site: http://
team.entrix.com/clientsite/soboba.nsf.
To obtain a compact disk copy of the DEIS, please provide your name
and address in writing to: Chief, Division of Environmental, Cultural
Resource Management and Safety, Pacific Regional Office, Bureau of
Indian Affairs, 2800 Cottage Way, Room W 2820, Sacramento, CA 95825 or
call the number listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section
of this notice. Individual paper copies of the DEIS can be provided
upon payment of the applicable printing cost for the number of copies
requested.
Public Comment Availability
Written comments, including the names and addresses of respondents,
will be available for public review at the BIA address shown in the
ADDRESSES section, during regular business hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except holidays. Before including your address,
phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information
in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--
including your personal identifying information--may be made publicly
available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold
your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot
guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Authority
This notice is published pursuant to section 1503.1 of the Council
of Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 through 1508)
implementing the procedural requirements of the NEPA of 1969, as
amended (42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.), Department of the Interior Manual
(516 DM 1-6) and is in the exercise of authority delegated to the
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs by 209 DM 8.1.
Dated: June 11, 2009.
Larry Echo Hawk,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. E9-15435 Filed 7-1-09; 8:45 am]
