Tohono O'odham Nation courts West Valley support for resort-casino

The leaders of the Tohono O'odham Nation are working to establish bonds in the West Valley that will assist them in building a resort/casino near Glendale, and Wednesday they rolled out their plans before the Peoria Chamber of Commerce.

The project, proposed near the corner of 91st and Northern avenues and close to Glendale's crown jewel, Westgate City Center, has met with opposition from the Glendale City Council.

In order to to assist the project in moving forward, the Nation's Gaming CEO Scott Sirois said, the tribe must get the people in the surrounding communities in their corner.

"In order to build a long-term relationship, it's crucial to get out there and meet with the people in the area," Sirois said. "I'm very happy to be working with the Tohono O'odham Nation because they are totally committed to that idea."

Over the past six months the Tohono O'odham Nation has been doing just that, and quite a bit of it - approaching 200 meetings, according to spokesman Matt Smith.

At Wednesday's stop at Rio Vista Recreation Center in Peoria, representatives from the Nation made a presentation to dozens of business leaders from Peoria, outlining the history of their people, their entry into gaming and what they plan to bring to the area with the 1.2 million-square-foot West Valley Resort.

"I think there's an education process that goes along with projects like this one, because for many people, there are just a lot of misconceptions we have to push through," Sirois said. "These people at this luncheon are the people we are going to be working with in the future, and it is great to get unbiased access to them. That way we can answer the questions they have and give them all the information they could ask for."

The Tohono O'odham filed a trust application with the U.S. Department of the Interior in January, asking that approximately 134 acres be converted to tribal reservation land. Once the land is taken into trust, the Tohono O'odham can move forward with their $600 million casino/resort project. The project will feature a 600-room hotel, a full-service spa and salon, 180,000 square feet of convention space and a 40,000 square foot convention center, a 150,000-square-foot gaming floor with more than 1,000 slot machines, 50 table games, a bingo hall, two bars and a nightclub. There are also plans for a 3-acre, glass-enclosed atrium with retail shops, restaurants and botanical gardens.

The tribe expects to employ 6,000 workers during construction and more than 3,000 once the facility opens for business, officials said.

"We are expecting more than $300 million in annual impacts, and that is probably a conservative estimate," Sirois said.

He also said the casino is expected to bring in 1.2 million visitors per year.

In order to make all this happen, the Tohono O'odham will have to win a legal battle with the city of Glendale, which is staunchly against the tribe's plans.

City officials said in April that removing the land from all state and local regulatory control and converting the property to an Indian reservation, where one has never existed, presents significant issues for the citizens and business owners of Glendale. And two weeks ago, Glendale said a strip of land in the middle of the property in question actually falls within Glendale's boundaries and cannot be developed for the purpose of gambling.

"The land they are talking about, well, we would only have to move the footprint of our main facility about 20 feet," Sirois said. "If it came to that, we would adapt."

Jeff Dempsey may be reached at 623-876-2531 or jdempsey@yourwestvalley.com.