A solid façade of opposition to the Cowlitz Casino near La Center in Washington began to crack last week when the Vancouver City Council voted unanimously to overturn a 2007 vote against the project. It is also voted to withdraw from a federal lawsuit against the casino that will be adjacent to Interstate 5.
Clark County’s council appeared near to taking a similar step, although it was not yet prepared to vote on such a resolution.
That lawsuit seeks to overturn the Department of the Interior’s decision that approved of creating the Cowlitz Indian Reservation. A U.S. District Court dismissed that case last year but it is under appear to the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, where a ruling could come this summer.
Mayor Tim Leavitt, who is the sole council member who was in office in 2007, said the action was “a long time coming.” He told tribal leaders attending the meeting, “Thank you for your partnership, thank you for your leadership and thank you for your patience.”
This action by the city council came in response to a plea from Cowlitz Tribal Chairman Bill Iyall, who had asked for more cooperation between the city and the tribe. After the vote he said, “We feel it will be a new beginning, turning a page on a history that maybe we’d rather not look back at. But it’s a breath of fresh air.” He added, “We’re more than happy to work on any remaining issues you have.”
Cowlitz tribal member Dave Barnett, who led the effort to build the casino added,
“This government-to-government relationship will go far beyond what we can anticipate. I want to thank you all for having the vision to see the opportunities that exist for both of us as we move forward and begin working together for the betterment of the city and the tribe.”
Before the vote Iyall and other tribal leaders said they planned to address the cities concerns about housing, transportation and the possibility that the city’s social and health services would be impacted by a possible increase in problem gambling. They also promised not to grow and sell marijuana on the reservation.
City Attorney Brent Boger said two things had changed since the city first joined the lawsuit. One is that Clark County is now a party to the suit, and can look after the interests of municipal governments, and two, that the casino has begun construction and will probably happen.
According to the tribe the casino is about 40 percent complete.
Others who remain opposed to the tribal casino are La Center’s card rooms, the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, Clark County and Citizens Against Reservation Shopping.
Clark County’s council, meanwhile, was considering a resolution “furthering the public health and welfare of Clark County citizens,” by cooperating with the tribe, but had held off due to the tribe’s concerns with the wording. The council voted to put the item on its agenda for the following week.
Last week a Clark County public health officer recommended that the county allow the Cowlitz Indian Tribe of Washington state to connect its $510 million casino to the city of La Center’s sewer system.
That is something the tribe initially proposed many months ago, but was stymied when a court ruled that it could not connect to the city because it would be outside of La Center’s “Urban Growth Line.”
Because of that ruling the tribe began building its own $15 million wastewater injection wells on the reservation, and is now about one-third finished. That in turn sparked outrage because the injection wells would be located about 200 feet above the Troutdale Aquifer System that provides potable water to Clark County.
However, this could change due to just delivered opinion by Dr. Alan Melnick of the County Health Department that it is “the safest thing to do” to allow the tribe to connect to the city sewer. The Clark County council asked Melnick to do an analysis of the injection well several weeks ago.
The issue of the “Urban Growth Line” can be overturned if the Clark County council, acting as the board of health, votes to make an exception and declare a health emergency.
That doesn’t mean that the County has dropped its opposition to the casino. It continues to fight the project in federal court.
The tribe said that because of that continued opposition that it was going forward with its injection wells. Chairman Bill Iyall said, “At this phase of the project, a change in direction would become a decision for the Cowlitz Tribal Council’s Development Board.”
