Causing a community uproar was an unintended consequence of filing a land-acquisition application, according to Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians officials, who have vowed to provide public notice of any similar future filing.

The dust continues to settle this week following a surprise announcement from tribal chairman Vincent Armenta, who took to the podium last Tuesday to inform the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors and the public of the Chumash’s decision to withdraw its Tribal Consolidation and Acquisition application.

On Monday, Bureau of Indian Affairs officials confirmed receiving the Chumash request, which came in an Oct. 11 letter that had been buried beneath a backlog of correspondence accumulated during the federal government shutdown.

By requesting to withdraw its application “without prejudice,” the tribe reverses a federal filing that laid ancestral claim to 11,500 acres and, subsequently, all pending litigation to fight the BIA approval.

What happens next, however, is less clear.

Tribal leaders called the withdrawal the act of a “good neighbor,” volunteering the immediate action, with no current plan to re-file, although the tribe technically could, said Sam Cohen, government and legal specialist with the Chumash.

Cohen conceded that any future TCA filing should include notice to all affected parties — a major beef many held with the recent filing, along with lacking proof to support land claims.

County officials told the public to assume the TCA approval was still in place last week, as well as a pending appeal filed by county supervisors on Sept. 11.

As of Monday, county attorneys had not received any type of confirmation from the BIA about the tribe’s TCA application, and was unsure whether staff ever would.

BIA officials could not provide more information on the process, either.

Also up in the air was whether the TCA withdrawal would affect the tribe’s fee-to-trust application for Camp 4, which was somewhat reliant on being within the TCA area when the BIA deemed it complete last month.

With all the unknowns, the supervisors last week voted 4-1 to pursue all avenues of opposition to the annexation of Camp 4, a 1,400-acre parcel of agricultural land near the 138-acre reservation that would be used for tribal housing.

Although some public speakers viewed the tribe’s announcement as last minute, Cohen told Noozhawk that Tuesday’s meeting happened to be the tribe’s first opportunity to address the board since sending a letter to the BIA Pacific Region office, which approved the original TCA application in June.
 
Without the TCA, which the chairman referred to as a tool to plan for the tribe’s future, Cohen said the tribe will have a more difficult time getting new approval to establish cultural attachment to the area.

Cohen said no disrespect was intended when tribal leaders left the meeting after making the announcement, which was the purpose for attending.

“Nothing said during the public comment period that hasn’t already been said multiple times in the past 10 years,” he said.

In a statement after the withdrawal, the Armenta said the move was also meant to save the county from paying unnecessary legal fees in opposition.

“Instead of working with the tribe on a government-to-government basis, the Board of Supervisors chose to fight the tribe,” Armenta said. “We don’t want to see Santa Barbara County spend millions of dollars in litigation fighting the tribe on the TCA.”

Armenta has said the Chumash will continue working to put Camp 4 into a trust, either with the county government’s help or without it via federal legislation.

— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.