The Cowlitz Tribe has offered to pay million for development and construction work at the I-5 La Center interchange in Clark County, Washington—if the tribe wins challenges to the federal trust status of the 152-acre site. Steve Horenstein, attorney for Salishan-Mohegan LLC, the tribe’s development partner, said, “We won’t do the improvements to the interchange unless the tribe gets a casino there. We are going to widen the bridge over the freeway and realign the frontage roads on both sides to accommodate that.”
Horenstein added the tribe would pay all construction costs; no state or federal money would be required. “We’re in the Interchange Justification Report process now and doing a fair amount of technical work,” Horenstein said.
The Washington State Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration must approve the finished IJR, ideally by August. Design of the revamped intersection would occur between January 2015 and January 2016. Then construction would begin in spring 2016 and be completed in fall 2017.
Horenstein recently updated City of La Center officials regarding ongoing litigation. In December 2010 the Department of Interior ruled it would take the Cowlitz land into federal trust, making the site eligible for a casino under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. But La Center cardrooms, Clark County, the City of Vancouver, the Grand Ronde Tribe and individuals filed complaints in District of Columbia federal district court, challenging the Interior Department’s decision as arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law. As it stands, a judge will hear oral arguments from both sides, although no date has been set, Horenstein said.
