The La Center City Council will once again consider repealing a resolution opposing the Cowlitz Indian Tribe’s casino project.
The new resolution — Resolution No. 11-340 — would replace the original resolution the council adopted in May 2007.
The council will decide whether to adopt the new resolution at its meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall.
Resolution No. 11-340 takes a much different tone than the original resolution.
“The City hereby determines to actively engage the Cowlitz Tribe in government-to-government relations and work to integrate the Tribe’s development into the City of La Center, its urban services systems and the larger north Clark County community,” according to the resolution.
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In December, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs approved the tribe’s application to take 152 acres into trust and build a large casino-hotel complex near the Interstate 5 junction.
Clark County filed an appeal in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., last month. The county was joined by the city of Vancouver, nearby property owners, operators of the four La Center cardrooms, and Citizens Against Reservation Shopping.
The city of La Center hasn’t taken a stand regarding the casino since the BIA’s December ruling.
“The current city council understands that, while the tribal development’s impacts could be negative, they could also be beneficial if effectively integrated into La Center’s plan for economic diversity, including the city’s sanitary sewer and transportation systems,” according to the resolution.
In the last few years, the city has spent “considerable resources” to expand its urban growth boundary and provide services to the junction, according to the resolution. The city is now in the process of annexing land from city limits west to the I-5 interchange.
The city’s primary source of operating revenues, which support local general government business and services, is its tax on four nontribal cardrooms in city limits. In the resolution, the city said that revenue source could be jeopardized should the city “ignore the economic opportunities presented by tribal and nontribal gaming interests at the I-5 junction.”
In the resolution, the city said it wants the Cowlitz development at the junction to be connected to the city’s sewer system, with all associated costs properly allocated.
The city wants to see all development impacts fully mitigated and all affected services and facilities adequately funded to serve the new tribal and nontribal development at the junction, according to the resolution.
Several city council members requested the city rescind the old resolution and create a new resolution, city Finance Director Suzanne Levis said.
The request came after La Center Mayor Jim Irish and councilmen Al Luiz and Greg Thornton met with Cowlitz officials on Feb. 14, primarily to discuss a sewer treatment plant, Levis said.
The council decided in June to extend a hand to the tribe and open the lines of communication between the two governments. The Feb. 14 meeting was a result of that decision, she said.
Past city councils have refused to negotiate with the tribe, turning down the tribe’s offers to help extend sewer lines from the city to the proposed casino site and to compensate the city up to $3 million annually for 10 years for lost tax revenues from its cardrooms.
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The resolution the council may rescind — Resolution No. 07-279 — lists 10 concerns the city has regarding the casino proposal and the draft final environmental impact statement. The city opposed the casino because the statement doesn’t address the city’s concerns regarding socioeconomic, traffic and other impacts. The city also demanded the tribe or federal government mitigate the impacts, otherwise the city will remain in opposition.
This isn’t the first time the council has considered repealing the resolution.
Irish proposed rescinding the resolution in April. At the time, Irish said he worried the resolution set a negative tone toward businesses wanting to develop in the area. But the council at the time decided to leave the resolution on the books.
Since then, three new members have joined the council and the BIA approved the tribe’s application to take the land into trust for a reservation.
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