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Rohnert Park casino won’t face ballot

Tuesday, July 5, 2005 | 11:06 a.m.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A controversial casino proposed for the city of Rohnert Park can proceed to the next step in state and federal negotiations without further input from local voters, a state appeals court has ruled.

The Sonoma County suburb of Rohnert Park signed a $200 million agreement with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria to build a casino near city limits in 2003. Once the city council approved the deal, casino opponents gathered signatures to bring the agreement to a popular vote.

But the Court of Appeal in San Francisco held Thursday that the agreement could not be challenged in a referendum because the deal did not create policy. Rather, the three-judge panel said, it spelled out how much the tribe would pay the city to soften the casino's effect on local traffic and law enforcement.

Station Casinos Inc., the largest operator of neighborhood casinos in Las Vegas, has signed a deal to develop and manage the casino for the tribe.

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