Operators of La Center’s three cardrooms and a Ridgefield couple are asking a judge to stop the Cowlitz Tribe and the city of La Center from extending a sewer line to Interstate 5, just east of where the tribe is building a $550 million casino resort.
Dragonslayer Inc., Michels Development LLC, and Greg and Susan Gilbert of Ridgefield filed the complaint for declaratory judgment Friday in Clark County Superior Court.
The complaint asks the court to evaluate whether the city had the authority to sign an interlocal agreement with the Cowlitz Tribe regarding the sewer line (along with other provisions) and to decide whether the contract violates state law. The plaintiffs want to prohibit the city and tribe from implementing the contract until the defendants bring it into compliance, according to court documents.
On Feb. 24, the Cowlitz Tribe agreed to pay for a $3 million sewer line running from the city to the east side of I-5’s Exit 16 interchange. The line will serve commercial development that’s expected to arise near the casino, which is under construction and slated to open next year. The sewer line cannot serve the casino itself because the 152-acre Cowlitz Reservation is outside the city’s urban growth boundary.
The interlocal agreement also includes a provision that the tribe will partner with the city in master planning the Exit 16 junction. The tribe must upgrade the exit at a cost of $32 million to $40 million to handle the additional traffic volumes the casino is expected to generate. The Cowlitz Tribe and the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (an affiliate of the Connecticut-based Mohegan Tribe), are backing the casino project and will pay for the entirety of the construction costs.
The plaintiffs argue that environmental impacts haven’t been adequately evaluated for the sewer line project or for the tribe’s proposed underground injection well wastewater disposal system for the casino.
The three plaintiffs say they were injured by the interlocal agreement in the following ways:
• The city didn’t consider adverse environmental impacts resulting from increased traffic “and hazards” at the interchange, which provides access to the cardrooms: The Palace, New Phoenix and Last Frontier. The agreement threatens the city’s revenue base and quality of public services and facilities, and it likely would cause “decay and blight” in downtown La Center, court documents state.
• The Gilberts, who live on 36 acres surrounded by farms and open space near the casino site, said the agreement would “result in an irreversible change in the rural character of the area.” They contend the city didn’t consider the increased traffic, noise, light, air, stormwater pollution, increased crime and decreased property values when signing the agreement. They also feel that the tribe’s proposed wastewater system poses a risk to their wellwater, which they draw from the Troutdale Aquifer.
La Center Mayor Greg Thornton and Cowlitz Tribe representatives could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The plaintiffs’ attorney, Kristine Wilson of Perkins Coie LLP, declined to comment.
La Center, a city of fewer than 3,000 residents, doesn’t have a stoplight, and revenues from its cardrooms provide the bulk of its tax base.
