El Dorado County supervisors to take up relocation of card room to La Borgata center

A new future could be in the works for the former Sienna restaurant space in El Dorado Hills, shown here.
SONYA SORICH | SACRAMENTO BUSINESS JOURNAL
By Jake Abbott – Staff Writer, Sacramento Business Journal
October 16, 2023

A proposal to convert the former Sienna restaurant space at El Dorado Hill’s La Borgata center into a restaurant and card room could reach a milestone this week.

The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors is expected to discuss the project during a meeting on Tuesday. The business, which has yet to be named, would combine an upscale eatery featuring a seasonal menu and card room offering poker games at 3909 Park Drive in El Dorado Hills.

In order to move forward, the business must receive approvals from government officials including the chief of the fire district, the county’s building official, the director of Building and Planning and the sheriff. The Board of Supervisors will consider a resolution Tuesday to conditionally approve the application submitted by project applicant Randy Yaple. The sheriff’s office recommends the board conditionally approve the application.

If the conditional approval is granted, the applicant would still need to provide a full plan for approval to the fire department, and have various aspects of the project signed off on by the county’s chief building official, in addition to obtaining building permits for tenant improvements and signage, according to the resolution being considered.

Yaple, who bought the license of the former Blacksheep Casino in Cameron Park in 2014, is looking to relocate that license to the Park Drive site. In May, public affairs firm California Strategies LLC told the Business Journal that Yaple was negotiating for the sale of the license to a new entity and that he would not be the ultimate operator of the card room. The public affairs firm stated that the acquiring entity would be disclosed as soon as there is an executed purchase agreement.

The possible license sale would still be subject to approval by the California Gambling Control Commission and El Dorado County.

California Strategies, on behalf of Yaple, declined to comment on Friday.

The business would fill an approximately 9,515-square-foot space at the La Borgata dining and retail center, which is owned by Ethan Conrad Properties Inc.. The space was last occupied by Sienna, which relocated earlier this year to a nearby restaurant space in El Dorado Hills.