A public hearing will be held December 11 for the Ho-Chunk Nation’s proposed $405 million casino resort in Beloit, Wisconsin. The Bureau of Indian Affairs announced a draft environmental impact statement will be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency regarding 73 acres the tribe wants to have taken into federal trust at Interstate 39/90 and Willowbrook Road, near the Illinois state line. Plans for the facility include a gaming floor with 2,200 slots and 50 table games, 300-room hotel, 40,000 square foot indoor water park, conference center, entertainment space and retail. The casino would be Ho-Chunk’s seventh in Wisconsin.
According to the BIA, the public may comment on the draft EIS through December 23. The final EIS will be presented in spring 2019. There is no deadline for federal approval, which would be followed by the governor’s approval. Democratic Governor-elect Tony Evers, who beat Republican Governor Scott Walker, said he would sign off on the Beloit plan. He would have six months to review the deal, followed by another 6-month extension. Evers’ spokesman Britt Cudaback said, “Governor-Elect Evers has said in the past he is inclined to support the agreement. However, the Governor-Elect will be carefully reviewing the application and listening to all sides involved with the issue to ensure a fair consideration.”
Construction on the Beloit facility could start in 2020, according to Ho-Chunk Nation President Wilfrid Cleveland. Under an agreement with the tribe, Beloit would receive $3.5 million annually in casino revenue sharing from Ho-Chunk and Rock County would receive $1.5 million a year.
Ho-Chunk Public Information Officer Collin Price said, “To us, it means a lot more than this casino. This community was once our home. We had a village right along the Rock River.”
Cleveland said, “We feel energized as after six years this is the farthest this project has ever been. We look forward to working with our local partners through this approval process that creates thousands of construction jobs and 1,500 full time jobs for Wisconsin. In talking with folks, I am sometimes met with cynicism because of the history and perceived lack of progress. Just getting to this point is promising. We’re going to keep doing it. We are going to stay at it and we’ve believed in this project for a long time. We are going to continue to devote our resources to this.”
In a joint statement with the Beloit City Council, City Manager Lori Curtis Luther said, “It is a very good day in Beloit. We’ve been waiting on this piece for about six years, so it’s pretty monumental to get this far. The Ho-Chunk Nation has an excellent reputation for running high-quality properties, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with the tribe throughout the duration of this project.”
A similar casino resort proposed by the Menominee tribe in Kenosha had a draft EIS published in May 2012 which was approved by the BIA in August 2013. It was sent on to Walker who avoided a decision until after the 2014 elections and then rejected the project in 2015.
