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In case you didn't know, tonight is the public hearing hosted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs regarding the Spokane Tribe's impact statement for a proposed casino and resort on the edge of Airway Heights.

The hearing starts at Sunset Elementary School in Airway Heights. The map shows the location. It starts at 6 p.m.

If you go expect plenty of back and forth on how and why this is either a good jobs-producing proposal or a dangerous precedent and a likely encroachment on Fairchild Air Force Base. Officially and completely honestly, OfficeHours is taking no sides on this issue. We wish both sides stick the facts and avoid overblown rhetoric.

For a summary of the proposal and the EIS, it's at this link.

Spokane city boundaries will expand by nearly 10 square miles on Jan. 1.

The Spokane City Council on Monday unanimously approved the city’s West Plains annexation, which includes the Spokane International Airport. Monday’s vote was largely a formality. The city, Spokane County and Airway Heights negotiated the annexation deal and gave preliminary approval to the expansion in 2009.

Airway Heights will grow by about a half-square mile next year. The land includes the sales-tax rich Walmart and was long claimed by Spokane.

Although it has no say over the annexations, the State Boundary Review Board for Spokane County will hold an informational meeting about the city expansions at 3 p.m. Aug. 8 at the Spokane County Public Works Building, 1026 W. Broadway Ave.

The annexations are the first in the state to move forward under a state law that allows cities to annex land by negotiating with county and other affected governments. Under the law, the review board has no say over the boundary changes.

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Worth blogging here is the John Stucke story from today on expansion plans by Rockwood Clinic, of Spokane:

The fast-growing clinic will open a family health care center, with three providers – including at least one physician – in a new location in Airway Heights.

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Two officials with the Spokane Tribe of Indians Thursday predicted their proposed West Plains casino-hotel could be ready for business sometime in 2013.

Tribe Chairman Greg Abrahamson and Vice Chair Mike Spencer told a West Plains Chamber of Commerce group they hoped the doors would open in “2 to 2 ½ years.”

But they also noted it’s not a done deal. The tribe first has to obtain federal approval and then get the OK from Washington state.

Tribal leaders have submitted a request to the Department of Interior to build a casino and resort on 145 acres of trust land the tribe acquired near Airway Heights in 1998.

The Kalispel Tribe, which operates the nearby Northern Quest casino, has said it opposes allowing the Spokanes to build a casino on non-reservation land. The Kalispels were able to build their casino-resort on land it bought and then later was designated tribal reservation land by the federal government.

Abrahamson said the proposed project, called STEP, for Spokane Tribe Economic Project, would generate 1,200 jobs when completed. Only one-fourth of those jobs would go to tribal workers, he noted.

He also said the first phase of the job would be completing the casino. The remaining components of the multiuse project would be phased in over a few years.

On the map, the proposed site sits north and west of Craig Road along Highway 2, on land adjacent to Airway Heights.

Plans by the Spokane Tribe of Indians to build a casino in Airway Heights ignited criticism from another area tribe during a closed-door Thursday meeting held by a federal agency that oversees Indian gaming.

The Thursday afternoon “consultation” was organized by the Office of Indian Gaming, a division of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The group is hosting six meetings between now and Nov. 18 to review rules that decide when tribes can build casinos on nonreservation land.

The Spokane Tribe hopes to build a 2.2-million-square-foot casino complex in Airway Heights on land that’s not part of its reservation. A change by the Office of Indian Gaming on its current rules would simplify that process.

If approved, the Spokane Tribe casino would be several miles from the Northern Quest Resort and Casino, opened by the Kalispel Tribe in 2000. Tom Sowa, SR Full Story. 

The only casino I’ve been to is Northern Quest. I loved the resort aspect, and the spa is divine, but the casino? Row after row of elderly folks staring at machines. Frankly, it creeped me out. Do you enjoy casinos? Why? And what do you think about this effort to build another casino a few miles away from an existing one?

The results of this month’s Spokane County election were certified on Tuesday, but the counting isn’t over.

Elections officials next week will recount by hand votes in the race for Airway Heights mayor.

City Councilman Patrick Rushing’s lead over incumbent Mayor Matthew Pederson grew in the latest tally to two votes.