Tribe’s Airway Heights plan may be in jeopardy

WASHINGTON – The Spokane Tribe’s proposed $130 million commercial development near Airway Heights may be threatened by legislation the Senate is considering, the tribal chairman said Wednesday.

A proposal by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., would make it more difficult to get federal approval for tribal casinos off a reservation.

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee was told Wednesday the process for approving those casinos under a 1988 law needs to be changed.

The committee considered possible restrictions that could interfere with the Spokanes’ intention to develop a commercial complex on 145 acres just west of Airway Heights.

As announced Friday, the development could include a casino, hotel and shopping center and could create 2,100 jobs.

The possible amendments, which McCain hopes the committee will consider in about a month, may put the tribe in a race against time to file its gaming application with the federal government.

Tribal Chairman Greg Abrahamson, who attended Wednesday’s hearings but didn’t testify, said he was concerned about the legislation’s impact.

The Spokanes are negotiating their first gaming compact with Washington state.

In October, Gov. Chris Gregoire sent a proposed compact back to the tribe that would have provided for revenue sharing with the state.

Abrahamson said the tribe must finish negotiations with the state before it can seek approval for an Airway Heights proposed casino from the U.S. Department of the Interior, which reviews Indian gaming applications. If the Spokanes’ application arrives at the department after McCain’s proposal passes, it would be governed by the new and tougher standards, Abrahamson said.

Just three tribes have received Interior Department approval for off-reservation gaming sites since 1988. One is the Kalispel Tribe’s Northern Quest Casino in Airway Heights.

The hearing Wednesday was partly a response to concerns about “reservation shopping,” a term critics use to describe Indian tribes opening casinos away from reservations.

Part of the hearing centered on a dispute over the Cowlitz Tribe’s plan to build a casino near La Center in Clark County.

The Spokane Tribe purchased the land near Airway Heights in the late 1990s and later had it taken into trust by the federal government – a procedure that allows the tribe to avoid property taxes and local land-use regulations.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act forbids gaming on newly acquired land, with several exceptions.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., a member of the committee, asked Bureau of Indian Affairs official George Skibine how the Kalispel Tribe was able to get permission to open Northern Quest. A spokeswoman later said Cantwell wants to be sure the process is consistent and transparent to the public.

Abrahamson said the tribe is not yet lobbying against McCain’s proposal.

“We’re still kind of waiting,” Abrahamson said.

“The land is already in trust, so we’re a step up on some of this.”