On Tuesday, December 22, the public will be able to voice opinions about possible land rezoning on two tracts surrounding the Catawba Nation’s planned Two Kings Casino Resort project. The Kings Mountain City Council is considering rezoning the parcels owned by Let’s Roll Holdings LLC and E5 Holdings LLC, both associated with casino developer Wallace Cheves.
Let’s Roll Holdings purchased a 118-acre site near the casino in September and wants 82.7 acres of that site rezoned from residential to a planned unit development. According to city documents, Cheves wants permission to build both single-family homes and multifamily units on the acreage. The development, named Catawba Village, would offer “some sort of affordable housing and have a good mix of housing” near the casino for workers and other interested residents, Cheves said. He added a “highly ranked national charter school” may open in the area as well.
Cheves is seeking to have the 17.1-acre site owned by E5 Holdings rezoned from heavy industrial to a general business designation.
The Kings Mountain project became a reality in March, when the U.S. Department of the Interior approved taking the 16.8-acre casino site into a trust for the Catawbas. Ground was broken for the $273 million casino resort project in July. The first phase of the casino could open by next fall with at least 1,300 slot machines.
Meanwhile, District of Columbia District Judge James Boasberg recently agreed to expedite the lawsuit filed by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, which owns two North Carolina casinos. Their suit, which seeks to stop the Catawba casino, contends political pressure by Cheves allowed the Catawbas to bypass Congress in the land-trust process. The Catawbas have claimed they have a right to the land for the casino based on the1993 agreement that granted the tribe federal recognition. The Cherokees, in response, called the Catawbas’ efforts “a modern-day land grab.”
Additionally, on September 24, the U.S. House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States held a hearing on H.R. 8255, the Catawba Indian Nation Lands Act, which would reaffirm the Department of the Interior’s decision.
