Pueblo – Backers of a proposal by two American Indian tribes to build a $100 million casino asked Pueblo’s City Council on Monday to negotiate an intergovernmental agreement and send a letter to Congress endorsing the project, which would anchor the historic riverwalk downtown.
Steve Hillard, chief executive of Golden- based investment firm Council Tree Communications, presented the plan to build a four-story, 50,000-square-foot structure that would hold a casino, Plains Indian Cultural Center, Native American healing spa, restaurants, a parking facility and eventually a bowling alley and movie theater.
The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, under the proposed intergovernmental agreement, would give 5 percent of gross gaming revenues to the city and voluntarily share revenue equal to the amount that would be generated from sales taxes if it were not an exempt Indian operation.
The city and county would receive $6 million to $10 million in direct payments annually.
“We honestly believe that this venue could be good for our tribal members and the city of Pueblo,” said Mike Martin, a business manager with the tribes. The tribes’ 11,000 members, who are scattered across Oklahoma, would receive about $20 million annually for programs that provide elder care, early-childhood education and economic development.
The tribes plan to file a new proposal with the Department of Interior that will claim they are the rightful owners of 27 million acres in Colorado.
The tribes initially wanted to build a $150 million casino east of Denver International Airport but now are offering to trade their land claim for permission to build in Pueblo. The proposed site is a 5-acre parcel at 100 S. Main St., the Andrews Produce property.
Hillard said the casino, which would take one year to build, would employ 150 construction workers and provide 433 jobs at no less than $12 an hour plus health care benefits, pumping $20 million in casino payroll annually into the struggling Pueblo economy.
The casino would generate an estimated additional 300 jobs elsewhere in the community.
The project would be modeled after Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, Nev.
Hillard said the project needs approval from Congress but does not have to go a vote of the people – an assertion that Mike Feeley, a former state senator and lawyer who represents the Colorado Gaming Association, disagreed with.
“We feel strongly that the Colorado Constitution, the spirit behind the Colorado Constitution, would require a vote of the people for any additional gambling,” Feeley said. “The people have spoken loudly several times, and the people of the state of Colorado are entitled to be part of the decision.”
Feeley said Colorado’s current gaming communities can “stand on their own.”
“They are successful, and people enjoy them,” he said. “With regard to Cripple Creek, there would be some impact.”
