Features

Berkeley developer James D. Levine’s plan to build a posh gambling resort on the Richmond shoreline has inched closer to reality with the release of key environmental review documents. 

The massive collection will determine the focus of the environmental review process that play a central role in determining whether Point Molate, a former naval refueling base, becomes a tribal reservation eligible for casino operations. 

Levine’s Upstream Molate LLC has enlisted the Guidiville Rancheria band of Pomos, Washington insider and former Defense Secretary William Cohen and Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s largest casino company, to bring the project to fruition. 

The Results of Scoping document, as the collection of comments is called, will be used in preparation of a draft environmental impact statement (EIS), the federal equivalent of an environmental impact report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act. 

Once the draft document is prepared, it will be released to the public for a 45-day comment period, which will include another public meeting in Richmond where individuals, groups and agencies can offer their comments on the document. 

The final draft will then follow, and the document will provide much of the basis for the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ decision to grant or deny the reservation designation and the right to operate a casino on the site. 

The project, initiated by Levine, would turn Point Molate into a reservation for the Guidiville Rancheria band of Pomos, while Harrah’s would run the gaming and hotel operations. 

Levine and his partners have agreed that they will also prepare an EIR on the project, one of the major demands of the project’s critics. 

Two-stage project 

According to the scoping documents, the resort will be constructed in two stages. 

First would come the transformation of the nationally landmarked Winehaven building, which housed California’s largest pre-Prohibition winery, into a 180,000-square-foot casino, accompanied by the construction of a 400-room hotel, transformation of landmarked former naval officers’ cottages into luxury hotel suites, construction of 150,000-square-foot conference and showroom building and the building of 5,000 parking spaces. 

Also included in the first phase would be development of a ferry terminal on the former navy pier, widening of Western Drive from two lanes to four, extension of the Bay Trail through the reservation and construction of a tribal park including ceremonial dancing grounds. 

Development of the second phase would depend on the economic success of the first and would include the addition of two hotel towers bringing the total rooms to 1,100 and construction of a 300,000-square-foot upscale retail complex and a 2,500-space multilevel parking structure. 

Alternatives 

The scoping session also resulted in four alternatives that will be included in the final environmental report: 

• Creation of the Upstream proposal plus a one million-square-foot mixed-use development including 500 units of commercial and high-end residential dwellings. 

• Creation of a smaller project including a 400-room hotel, a 100,000-square-foot entertainment and conference center, 5,000 total parking space and 20,000 square feet of retail, with the additional of 200 acres of park land and open space. 

• A non-reservation, non-gambling alternative in which the tribe and Levine’s Upstream would build two housing complexes with 1,100 units of high-density housing, a 400-room hotel, a 50,000 square foot convention facility and additional retail and restaurant facilities along a pedestrian walkway. This alternative would also include a ferry terminal. 

• A final alternative in which no development would occur. 

Two other alternatives proposed at the scoping session were rejected. 

The first would have turned the entire site into parkland. This was rejected because the federal Base Realignment and Closure Act requires that former military bases transferred to local governments must be used to create jobs and replace income lost when the bases were closed. 

The second proposal, which called for the project to be built at other locations in the Bay Area, was rejected for the same reason. 

Report focus 

The scoping report identified areas of potential impacts to be addressed in the final environmental document, including: 

• Socioeconomic (the impacts of problem gambling, lost taxes, impacts on housing and local business). 

• Potential traffic problems (local and regional). 

• Hazardous materials (both leftovers from the naval station and the ChevronTexaco refinery just over the ridge). 

• Risks to threatened plant species and migratory bids. 

• A variety of land use and planning policies, effects of local governmental services (both emergency and non-emergency). 

• Threats to air and water quality. 

• Visual, noise and aesthetic implications.  

• Adverse effects on archaeological resources.  

• Whether or not the Guidivilles have any historic link to the site (which would determine their eligibility for a reservation in Richmond). 

• Site geological and soil suitability for a major project. 

• Environmental justice issues. 

• The cumulative effects of all potential impacts. 

Diverse comments 

State agencies which offered written comments for the scoping included the Department of Fish and Game, Caltrans, the State Lands Commission, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the California Highway Patrol and the Regional Water Quality Control Board.  

On the local government level, comments came from Contra Costa County, Marin County, the East Bay Regional Parks District, and El Cerrito and Pinole. 

Organizations commenting include the Sierra Club, the California Native Plant Society, the Trails for Richmond Advisory Committee, the anti-casino Coalition to Save Point Molate, the San Francisco Bay Trail Project, Save the Bay, Citizens for East Shore Parks and the chair of the Point Molate Restoration Advisory Board 

A lawyer for Artichoke Joe’s, a San Bruno cardroom which opposes tribal casinos in the Bay Area, offered a lengthy and negative set of considerations. Other lawyers to who wrote included a Sacramento law firm retained by Contra Costa County and a Phoenix law firm, which wanted information only about upcoming scoping events. 

Comments from individuals were generally either pro and con, and most offered few specifics that could be addressed in the EIS.