Tiny Tribe Is Betting On Casino Airway Heights The Venue
The tiny Kalispel Tribe announced a bold plan Tuesday to build a casino and hotel complex just west of Spokane in Airway Heights.
The northeast Washington tribe is teaming with Carnival Hotels and Casinos to pursue the project on the tribe’s 40-acre field across Hayford Road from the Spokane Raceway Park.
Plans for the $17 million venture include a casino larger than a supermarket with 50 table games, a restaurant and a 600-seat bingo hall.
To succeed, the project needs the blessing of at least the Airway Heights City Council, the Washington State Gambling Commission, the governor and the U.S. Secretary of Interior.
It may prove to be a difficult sell.
“This is a real Pandora’s Box,” said Carrie Tellefson, assistant to the state gambling commission director. “People are very concerned with tribal casinos popping up all over the place.”
There are now 10 reservation casinos in the state, but Washington voters spiked a gambling initiative last fall that would have allowed unregulated casino-style gambling on Indian lands.
What makes the Airway Heights project particularly controversial, Tellefson said, is that the land is not historic tribal property. The Kalispel Tribe, based on a 4,600-acre reservation near Usk, Wash., bought the land in 1993.
Allowing the Airway Heights casino “could open the doors for other tribes to buy property right in downtown Spokane, or buy the Sea-Tac Sheraton and turn it into a casino,” Tellefson said.
The gambling commission agreed Saturday to allow the Quinalt Tribe to run a casino on non-reservation land near Ocean City. But, Tellefson noted, the land was acquired by the Quinalts 100 years ago.
Glen Nenema, Kalispel tribal chairman, said the Airway Heights plan is an economic development project to help finance a proposed cultural and training center called the Camas Institute.
Nenema said he realizes the project faces many obstacles. “I guess we believe that we do have a chance, but we do know that we have to get support.”
Several of the 240 tribal members presented their plans at the Airway Heights City Council meeting last week. Another meeting between tribal and city officials is scheduled for June 17.
Mayor Don Harmon said his mind remains open to the plan. “It does appear to be a class act,” he said. “If someone wants to operate a business, and they go through the process, and it’s legal, then I have no right to stand in their way.”
David Bonga, the development manager for the Kalispels, said if the casino gets approved the tribe will purchase 140 acres adjoining its Airway Heights parcel.
Bonga said the tribe would use the land to run its institute and also provide about 500 units of affordable housing.
Kerry Lynch, a Spokane public relations consultant with Allied Pacific Inc., said the project is well grounded because Carnival Hotels and Casinos is very experienced in this field.
The company manages 67 hotels and runs three casinos in the Caribbean and Latin America, according to Lynch’s news release.
Bonga concedes the project is likely to draw government opposition.
“I still think it’s kind of questionable,” he said. “We’d have to make an awful good case as to why we should proceed.”
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