The council also passed a second measure calling for updated studies on three other options for relocating the casino. One option is to secure an off-reservation site in the Marquette area, other than the former Marquette County Airport property; Governor Rick Snyder denied that proposal last year. Second is the waterfront plan and third is renovating the current casino.
The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Tribal Council recently passed two casino-related measures. First, the council asked Treasurer Eddy Edwards to determine the renovation costs and a current asking price for the Baraga Lakeside Inn, as part of Edwards’ plan to relocate the tribe’s Ojibwa Casino there. The council also requested new studies of three other casino relocation options from 2010.
Council member Jennifer Misegan said, “We looked at the Edwards plan before and it wasn’t going to work. Before doing something like this we need a feasibility study.”
Edwards said by building at the waterfront location casino profits could increase by $17 million in the first five years of operation. “That’s twice what we’d see by renovating the existing Baraga casino,” he said. Edwards added, “The site studies all show that it’s buildable, and we can do any amount of parking we want. We just have to build up.” He noted the current casino may have reached the end of its useful life, citing a recent water main break that required part of the casino to be closed temporarily.
Edwards’ plan also would use property the tribe owns adjacent to the Lakeside Inn, and includes a 400-car parking lot and a marina.
Council member and former council President Warren “Chris” Swartz Jr. said, “I think it’s important to look at the costs and how we’re going to get our money back” on the Lakeside property. He said the tribe should not spend money it now uses to provide services to members.
The council also passed a second measure calling for updated studies on three other options for relocating the casino. One option is to secure an off-reservation site in the Marquette area, other than the former Marquette County Airport property; Governor Rick Snyder denied that proposal last year. Second is the waterfront plan and third is renovating the current casino.
Edwards said a Marquette-area site would be best but he didn’t think Snyder would change his mind. “We can sit and wait for the next governor or we can try again. W can do more studies, waiting and waiting and waiting, or we can just do this.”
