|
Camp 4 Fee To Trust Application - Request for Extension of Review TimeYOUR PROPERTY IS IN JEOPARDY! TRIBAL CONSOLIDATION & ACQUISITION PLAN PLUS CAMP 4 ANNEXATION APPLICATION THREATEN PROPERTY VALUES THROUGHOUT THE VALLEY! CAMP 4 ANNEXATION: As you are by now probably aware, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians (tribe) has submitted the 1433 acre “Camp 4” property at the intersections of Highways 154 and 246 to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for annexation (Fee-To-Trust) into the tribe’s reservation. This property is the size of the entire City of Solvang! If annexation (FTT) is approved by the BIA, Camp 4 property is removed from County and Santa Ynez Valley Community Plan jurisdiction. Additional information and articles on this issue can be accessed at syvconcernedcitizens.com. TRIBAL CONSOLIDATION & ACQUISITION PLAN: Included in the tribe’s Fee-to-Trust annexation application to the BIA is a “Tribal Consolidation & Acquisition Plan” (TCA) defined (see map here) to include over 11,000 acres of the Santa Ynez Valley. Any property purchased by the tribe within the TCA is permitted to be fast-tracked for annexation. The BIA approved this TCA for the tribe in June 2013 with no public notice to the community, local governing bodies, or affected property owners. This annexation can be one property at a time, creating a patchwork pattern of Tribal lands with adjacent private property under county jurisdiction. If a property next to you, or in your neighborhood, is annexed you will have no recourse over whatever the Tribe chooses to do with that land, no matter how inappropriate it is for the area. You can do something to stop this ‘taking’. With acceptance of the tribe’s Camp 4 annexation application, the BIA announced a 30 day period (ending September 19, 2013) to receive written comments regarding the Environmental Assessment to the application. The BIA is required by law to provide a reasonable window of time for the public to submit comments. Obviously, as the community is just now learning about the annexation application and the simultaneously submitted devastating Tribal Consolidation & Acquisition Plan, the community needs more time to absorb the impacts of these issues and to format appropriate comment. We need to slow this process down and we need your help to accomplish this goal. The public can, and must, request extension of the comment period. It is essential that every person, business, home owners association write the BIA immediately requesting a 60-day extension of the public comment period (see below for address). While your letter can be as simple as ‘request 60-day extension of comment period to give me enough time to understand the 930-page long FTT application’, following are relevant talking points, any of which could be addressed in your letters. For your guidance, attached is a sample letter (in RTFÂ format) from Cheryl Schmidt’s organization Stand Up For California, modified for use by an individual.
Please join in helping the community to stop this outrageous ‘taking’ of our country. Email your written request for a 60-day extension of the review period to chad.broussard@bia.gov (with copy to info@syvconcernedcitizens.com) or mail to: Chad Broussard, Environmental Protection Specialist Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs Pacific Regional Office, Suite 2820 2800 Cottage Way Sacramento, CA 95825Informational link: |