Trust

Lytton Band offers more to community for land-into-trust bid

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

This property is included in the Lytton Band land-into-trust application. Photo from Lytton Residential Development Environmental Assessment

The Lytton Band of Pomo Indians in California is offering even more to a local community in exchange for supporting its land-into-trust application.

The tribe has agreed to build a new pool for the town of Windsor. The estimated cost is between $7 million and $10 million.

The tribe also plans to contribute $2.5 million "mitigation fund" to the town to offset the construction of the pool and potential operating costs. Additionally, the tribe will pay an estimated $6.5 million to hook up to the town's water and sewer system.

The tribe is also donating $1 million to the local school district and is already making payments to the fire district that will total more than $1 million over a decade, The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reported.

The tribe wants 124 acres placed in trust for a housing project, a cultural center and other purposes. The Bureau of Indian Affairs issued a finding of no significant impact in June 2012 but a final decision hasn't been made.

“Sooner or later, they are going to approve this,” Larry Stidham, the tribe’s attorney and spokesman, told the paper. “This is a tribe that doesn’t even have a homeland and at this point that’s at the top of the list, in terms of housing for land needs when you look at taking land into trust.”

Get the Story:
Windsor may trade water service to tribe in exchange for swimming pool (The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat 11/4)