Casino proposal stirs land-use
debate in valley
Opponents draw line at Willamette River
Mitch
Lies
Capital Press Staff
Writer
May 12, 2006
To
the chagrin of Wilsonville city leaders, the Klamath Tribes of Oregon has
proposed a casino adjacent to a Langdon Farms Golf Club south of the
Willamette River in the French Prairie area along Interstate 5. Wilsonville
city officials, who recently passed a resolution supporting agriculture in the
area, are concerned that in the unlikely event the casino is constructed, it
will clog traffic, tax city services and detract from the area’s cultural
heritage.
Danielle Cowan, public affairs director for the city, said city leaders also
are concerned that, given time, the casino could pave the way for housing and
industrial growth to stretch from Portland to Salem. Wilsonville city leaders,
she said, are trying to maintain the natural boundary of the Willamette River
as the southern extremity of the Portland metro area’s urban growth
boundary.
“Once you cross the Willamette River, where’s the next natural stopping
place?” she asked. “There isn’t any. It’s just nice flat land that
could fill in just like Los Angeles has.”
Chris Maletis, who owns Langdon Farms with his brother, Tom, and has an option
on the land the Klamath Tribes is considering for its casino, points out that
development already has crossed the Willamette River. It is unreasonable, he
said, for the city of Wilsonville, which already provides water and sewer
services to Charbonneau, a housing development south of the river, to object
to additional development. And, he points out, the area is considered a
“strategically significant employment area” according to a December, 2003,
report from an advisory panel of the state’s Economic and Community
Development Commission.
“They want no development,” he said of Wilsonville officials: “Not even
the ability to put homes on the golf course.”
Maletis said the dispute over the area extends back to the 2003 report and a
proposal by the Port of Portland to construct a warehouse-distribution center
on the acreage.
“The port identified it as one of the best industrial sites within 150 miles
of the airport,” he said. “But then local politics took over.”
Metro, the Portland metro area’s governing council, ultimately denied the
proposal, triggering the Maletis brothers to consider a proposal from an
individual who represented the tribe, Maletis said.
Rod Clarke, president of the Klamath Tribes, said in a press release that the
tribe has not decided whether to go forward with plans to build the casino.
The Klamath submitted the application only to preserve its options in light of
a deadline set by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for applying for off-reservation
casinos.
The Klamath was one of several tribes to submit applications to the Bureau of
Indian Affairs ahead of McCain’s April 15 deadline. Among other applications
are proposals by the Cowlitz Indian Tribe to build a $510 million casino and
resort at the La Center-Interstate 5 junction just north of Portland and one
by the Burns, Ore., Paiute Tribe to build an off-reservation casino in
Ontario, Ore.
If the Klamath decides to pursue its application, sources believe tribal
leaders will have a difficult time gaining approval to construct the casino.
Gerald Ben, deputy regional director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in
Portland, said the secretary of the Interior Department considers several
factors in deciding whether to approve an application for an off-reservation
casino, including whether surrounding cities, the county where the casino
would be located and the state are in favor of it.
A call to Clackamas County commissioners indicated at least one of the
county’s three commissioners is opposed to the casino, even though planners
and the commissioner contacted, Bill Kennemer, said they have not seen the
proposal. And Wilsonville, the nearest city to the casino, has declared its
opposition in the resolution supporting agriculture that it is circulating to
other cities in the area.
Ben added that the farther a proposed site is from tribal land, the more
difficult it is to convince the secretary to approve an off-reservation
application. Usually, he said, a tribe has to show some cultural connection
between its history and the proposed casino site.
Wilsonville is approximately 250 miles from Klamath Falls.
Jonathan Schlueter of the Westside Economic Alliance, said among other hurdles
facing the proposal is an inability of the local area to service the casino
with water and sewer.
“A facility like that would require a large amount of water and sewer
treatment,” Schlueter said.
Cowan added: “The infrastructure simply is not there to support that use.”
A study conducted by the engineering department of the city of Wilsonville in
response to the proposal to site a warehouse and distribution center in the
area concluded that “providing public services to the area south of the
Willamette River is prohibitive.”
The study appears to refute a contention by Maletis that because the city
already is servicing Charbonneau, it should be able to service a casino or an
industrial park.
“The line under the (Boone) bridge, the reservoir and the pump station are
sized to provide a residential and limited commercial area with domestic water
and fire protection only,” the study concludes. “Industrial requirements
are higher.”
The Klamath proposal, Cowan said, includes condominiums, RV parks, strip malls
and thousands of hotel rooms. “I think it would blow people’s socks off if
they saw what was proposed there,” she said.
According to Maletis, the golf course would serve as an amenity to the casino,
which would be located southwest of the course.
Cowan said Wilsonville and surrounding communities want to preserve the
agricultural use of the land surrounding the golf course for several reasons:
Agriculture, she said, preserves the area’s cultural identity; it provides
good jobs; it adds to the area’s economic diversity; and it is the best use
of the land, which ranks among the best farmland in the world.
“Agriculture is a strongly traded sector in Oregon,” she said. “It is
the leading industry in Marion and Clackamas counties and the second leading
industry in Washington and Multnomah counties. This whole notion that
agricultural land is just land waiting for another industry to arrive is
false. That land is our niche land. You can put a warehouse or housing on any
land. But you can’t farm on any land.”
Jim Johnson, a land-use specialist with the Oregon Department of Agriculture,
said Langdon Farms was one of the final golf courses approved on high-value
farmland in Oregon.
Its conditional use permit, he said, is contingent upon the activity being
compatible with the surrounding farmland. If the course’s zoning changed, he
said, it should revert back to farm use or some other use compatible with
farming.