Two local community groups opposing tribal land expansion were awarded $250,000 from the federal government under an act that allows for compensation of legal fees to prevailing parties in cases against the government.

The award comes more than a year after a federal judge ruled that the Interior Department ignored local concerns about a decision to enlarge the Chumash reservation.

Members of Preservation of Los Olivos and Preservation of Santa Ynez were awarded the money under the Equal Access to Justice Act.

In July 2008, the groups won a suit against the Interior Department in U.S. District court, which rejected the department’s argument that the groups had no standing to challenge the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ 2005 approval of the local tribe’s application to annex 6.9 acres of land into a federal trust.

The fee-to-trust process removes land from local jurisdiction and places it under tribal authority, freeing the land from state and local tax rolls and zoning laws.

 

In January 2005, the Bureau of Indian Affairs approved the annexation in exchange for a promise from the tribe to sign a memorandum of understanding. The contract was never signed, and the county missed the deadline to file an appeal, prompting the groups to file an appeal, instead. 

The bureau’s decision was also met with nearly 1,000 letters from community members opposing the tribe’s fee-to-trust application, said Kathy Cleary, the POLO board president.

In the ensuing two years, the Interior Board of Indian Appeals had twice concluded that the groups had no standing to appeal the approval of the tribe’s application.

Four years later, Judge A. Howard Matz disagreed, concluding that the IBIA had ignored its own binding regulations on standing in the case, and also had not properly considered its regulations on standing in other similar cases before it.

Appellants had hailed the ruling as a major breakthrough for citizens wanting to legally challenge federal administrative action for tribal governments.

 

“Little did we know that we were entering waters that had never really been navigated before,” Cleary said of the decision to file suit. “The status quo was that lawyers advised groups they could never win against the federal government and to compromise.”

Although the groups recovered $250,000 in the four-year-old case that racked up almost $2 million in legal fees, the appellants consider the victory more than a slap on the federal government’s wrist.

“(We thought that) if we could recover fees, then the federal government would really pay attention,” Cleary noted. “We had won the right to be heard in court, and if we could make the federal government admit this legal action protecting our rights, then the government would know a lot of other groups would be right behind us ready to defend their communities.”

Last year’s ruling did not reverse the BIA’s approval of the application; but it gave the groups the right to argue the merits of the case.

 

However, worries among locals about the proposal’s potentially negative effects on air quality, traffic and crime were touched on in the federal court’s decision when arguing that the plaintiffs’ members have a concrete interest that is undermined by the IBIA’s failure to address the merits of the appeal.

“The evidence indicates that the tribe’s existing development already has contributed to a decline in air, water and soil quality and an increase in traffic and crime,” the decision stated. “The (plaintiffs) have shown that they live sufficiently close to the proposed development that they are likely to suffer the environmental consequences that may ensue.”

One business owner worried that the tribe’s development would put his property rental business at a competitive disadvantage because the tribe could offer cheaper prices because of its tax-exempt status, according to the district court’s decision. 

The tribe has said it plans to develop a cultural center and museum and a 3.5-acre commemorative park focusing on the history of the Chumash people and acting as a preservation buffer for the archeological site. Revenue for upkeep of the property rests on the construction of 27,600-square-foot, two-story retail building.

 

The property sits across Highway 246 from the Chumash Casino and Resort.

Cleary said the groups were informed in September that they would receive a timeline to begin arguing the merits of the case, which they have not yet gotten. But she said they’re poised to challenge the constitutional authority of the secretary of the interior to annex land from state jurisdiction through the fee-to-trust process.

“In order to protect our rights secured by the United States Constitution, it is everyone’s responsibility to defend those rights against any government agency that threatens them,” Doug Herthel, past POLO president and current member, said in a statement. “Two-hundred-fifty-thousand-dollars is just a fraction of the cost of this litigation, but our groups and groups all over the United States are heartened to see that the legal system does work to ensure that the people have a voice to hold their government accountable.”

A telephone call placed to Frances Snyder, the tribal spokeswoman for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, was not returned by press time.

 

jfoster@syvjournal.com