The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation has launched a lawsuit against the City of Vallejo, California, and its council after the city signed off on an Encroachment Permit and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians. At the center of the dispute is a planned temporary casino in Vallejo, a project slated to feature 24 single-family homes, a tribal administration building, a parking structure, and a 45-acre biological preserve close to Interstate 80 and Highway 37. Carrying an estimated price tag of $700 million, the venue would run around the clock.
Key takeaways
- Yocha Dehe's complaint, filed on 28 May in Solano County Superior Court, targets the permit and MOU Vallejo approved for Scotts Valley's interim gaming site.
- The tribe alleges breaches of the California Environmental Quality Act and the state's LAFCO Act.
- The council backed the MOU 4-2 in April; the interim facility would be a roughly 5,400-square-foot modular operation with up to 100 gaming positions.
- The U.S. Department of the Interior is still reconsidering whether the Vallejo land is eligible for gaming, with a decision expected by the end of July.
Anthony Roberts, Chairman of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, did not hold back in his assessment of the council's move, according to the Vallejo Times-Herald. "The City of Vallejo's decision to rush into a Memorandum of Understanding for the Scotts Valley project while the federal government is actively reconsidering whether the project is legal in the first place completely disregards the rule of law and proper process. We were left with no choice but to file suit, not only to protect our Patwin ancestral homelands, but also to stand up for the thousands of Vallejo residents that deserve thoughtful decision-making grounded in facts and meaningful environmental review," he said.
The $700 million figure belongs to the tribe's full resort vision. What the city actually agreed to service is far more modest: an interim "preview" operation that the Scotts Valley Band has proposed housing in modular buildings of roughly 5,400 square feet, with up to 100 Class II gaming positions, plus a third modular building for offices; food would come from trucks and prepackaged items. At the April council meeting, the preview casino was described as opening daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Inside the MOU and the Pushback
Back in April, the Vallejo City Council approved the agreement in a 4-2 vote, pledging municipal resources such as fire, police, and water services to support a modest casino operation alongside a Pomo tribal office. Under the terms, the Scotts Valley Band is expected to put up $100,000 in community benefits, fill 15 percent of jobs with local hires, maintain community engagement throughout the build, and assist with clearing the White Slough encampment. Two council members, Tonia Lediju and Alexander Matias, voted against the deal, contending that the city had not secured strong enough terms.
The financial side of the MOU goes beyond that community pot. The tribe agreed to pay Vallejo $402,000 a year for public safety and administrative costs, plus a $100,000 activation fee and at least $100,000 annually for local nonprofits — a total of about $602,000 in the first year and $502,000 in each year after. The tribe is also responsible for funding a police position and for 24/7 site security. Mayor Andrea Sorce was absent for the vote, while Vice Mayor Diosdado Matulac said Vallejo needed to take hold of economic development opportunities of this kind.
Roberts had urged the council to wait at the April meeting.
"Because they're trying to rush this project through before the federal government can complete its review of whether this land is even eligible for gaming. The review that's happening is because the federal government admitted that its original decision may have been a legal error."
— Anthony Roberts, Chairman, Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, at the April council meeting
Scotts Valley Chairman Shawn Davis countered in a letter to the council that the agreement does not approve construction or commit the city to further action; it only sets out how police, fire and water services would be provided, and paid for, if the interim development goes ahead.
Mia Durham, Secretary of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, underlined the tribe's long-standing local ties: "Our tribe remains deeply committed to the many community partners, residents, and organizations we have worked alongside in Vallejo for decades. These relationships are rooted in trust, partnership, and a shared commitment to the future of this region."
A Decade-Long Fight Over the Site
The Vallejo parcel has been contested for years. Scotts Valley first asked the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 2016 to declare the roughly 160-acre site at the northeast corner of Interstate 80 and Route 37 its native homeland; its long-term proposal there is an eight-story casino alongside homes and a tribal administration building. The Band, whose original Sugar Bowl Rancheria in Lake County was terminated in 1965, regained federal recognition in 1991 and is based about 100 miles away in Mendocino County. It signed a cooperative agreement with Vallejo in November 2024.
On 10 January 2025, in the final days of the Biden administration, Interior took the land into trust and declared it gaming-eligible under the "restored lands" exception of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Less than three months later, on 27 March, the department under Secretary Doug Burgum rescinded the gaming determination, saying it had not weighed additional evidence from neighbouring tribes, though the parcel stayed in trust. Scotts Valley sued, and in July 2025 amended its complaint to accuse Yocha Dehe of supplying draft reversal language to federal officials — a claim Roberts dismissed as a distraction.
On 30 October 2025, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden vacated the rescission, finding Interior had violated the Band's due-process rights by acting without proper notice, but allowed the department to keep reconsidering the site. Both sides claimed victory. Alongside Yocha Dehe, the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation, the United Auburn Indian Community and Lytton Rancheria have opposed the project, arguing that Scotts Valley lacks historical ties to the area and that a new casino would hurt their own operations. Yocha Dehe, which runs Cache Creek Casino Resort in Yolo County, insists its objections are ancestral rather than commercial; Scotts Valley calls them anticompetitive.
Federal Scrutiny Still in Play
The complaint alleges that the city ran afoul of both the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act, commonly known as the LAFCO Act. Opponents say Vallejo skipped a proper environmental assessment and leaned on exemptions that do not apply. They also point out that the MOU pledges city services to a casino sitting on federal trust land without sign-off from Solano LAFCO.
A further argument concerns how the project was defined. Yocha Dehe contends that Vallejo treated the temporary gaming facility as a standalone scheme instead of as the first phase of Scotts Valley's larger casino development — the practice known under CEQA as "piecemealing", which can shrink the environmental review a project receives.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of the Interior is taking a fresh look at whether the Scotts Valley site even qualifies for gaming. In a letter sent in December, the department flagged possible legal missteps in earlier approvals, noting that input from neighboring tribes and other parties casts doubt on the land's eligibility. The agency cautioned that leaning on the prior determination would be unwise while its review is ongoing, with a final ruling anticipated by the close of July.
Roberts summed up the tribe's position, stressing that litigation was the only remaining option to safeguard ancestral lands and ensure residents' interests are weighed. With the federal review unresolved, he argued, the city's early backing of the preview casino jeopardizes both legal process and local resources.
