The Chumash Tribe and Casino
The Chumash tribe has prospered thanks to its casino along Highway 246 in Santa Ynez. In July 2004, the tribe opened a 106-room hotel adjacent to the casino. The Chumash are now seeking to diversify their economy—a laudable goal—by buying up land and developing it. Valley residents have witnessed the casino and hotel’s negative impacts on traffic, public safety and other areas, and want a study of the cumulative environmental impacts of the tribe’s master development plan, including the Parker parcel.