CONSTRUCTION AT THE Cowlitz Indian Tribe Reservation began last week. Despite one last legal hurdle, the tribe is moving forward with its plans to build a $510 million casino resort complex on its reservation land near La Center.
LA CENTER – Despite an appeal that could threaten its’ ability to operate a casino on reservation land near La Center, the Cowlitz Indian Tribe is moving forward with construction of the planned casino-hotel complex.
Last week, construction vehicles could be seen from Interstate 5, moving across the undeveloped, 152-acre Cowlitz Reservation.
“We’re doing preliminary site work to prepare for winter,” Cowlitz Tribal Chairman Bill Iyall said. “We are doing our due diligence to protect the site, to protect the wetland area so it isn’t impacted by (ongoing construction).”
Iyall said the public can plan to see construction vehicles – and on-site construction trailers – on the reservation land from now until the casino-hotel complex is complete.
The tribe hopes to build a Las Vegas-like casino and hotel resort on a portion of the reservation land near La Center.
“We have talked about having a formal groundbreaking ceremony around the first of the year, but that date hasn’t been determined yet,” Iyall said.
The tribe hopes the casino, which could open in 2017, will benefit the Cowlitz Tribe by funding education for the tribe’s youth and providing health care services and housing for the tribe’s elders. The tribe says the casino also will pay for government services like police and fire; “reimburse local governments in lieu of taxes and fund arts and education projects;” and bring living-wage jobs with full benefits to the people in the La Center area.
In April, the tribe signed an agreement with Columbia Pacific Building and Construction Trades Council guaranteeing that the $510 million casino resort would be built with local union workers.
At that time, Iyall said the labor agreement showed that the tribe was committed to being a positive force within the community: “The signing of this agreement also reaffirms our commitment to the community that this project will be using the best trained local workers who will build a safe, well-constructed and dynamic destination, which will provide benefit to the entire region.”
Despite the tribe’s positive outlook, however, there are still a number of private and public opponents to the Cowlitz’ planned casino. In fact, the tribe is being challenged by Clark County, three private cardrooms in La Center, the city of Vancouver, two neighbors of the reservation land and even a neighboring Native American tribe – the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, who own the Spirit Mountain Casino in Grand Ronde, Oregon, about 70 miles away from the planned Cowlitz casino.
Opponents of the Cowlitz casino have been trying to halt its construction for more than a decade, ever since the Cowlitz tribe announced plans to build a casino resort after gaining federal recognition in 2000.
Last year, after a federal judge upheld the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) decision to grant the Cowlitz tribe reservation status on the 152-acre former dairy near La Center, the casino opponents appealed the decision to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Their argument rests on a United States Supreme Court decision in a case known as Carcieri v. Salazar, in which the Supreme Court said only tribes who were under federal jurisdiction in 1934 can be granted reservation land by the BIA. The Cowlitz casino opponents argue that, because the Cowlitz tribe was not federally recognized until the year 2000, the BIA should not have been able to put the land into trust for the Cowlitz tribe.
Written briefs in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals – the highest level of appeal besides the U.S. Supreme Court – are due in two weeks. Still, even though that case is not yet over, Iyall said he and his tribe were confident that they would prevail at the federal level.
“Yes, the appeal is moving forward,” Iyall said. “But we are confident that we have a really strong decision and that the appeal (will not be successful).”
