She said that the two tribes came together to create “one of the most significant investments in Southwest Washington for years to come.” Kara Fox-LaRose, president and general manager for the project, said that she hopes the conversation around the project shifts to include the positive impacts the casino-resort will have on the area, including 1,000 new jobs. That will include widening lanes and adding a bike path and roundabout. Officials say that the project will also be accompanied by $32 million in privately funded improvements to the nearby Interstate 5 interchange.

The project managers of a casino under construction on Cowlitz land west of La Center released designs on Monday for the facility, named ilani. Project officials say they understand the concerns but pointed to the casino’s location - on 152 acres right off the interstate and not embedded in neighborhoods.

Other opposition has centered around an anticipated increase in traffic and crime and a disruption to the quiet rural character of north Clark County. A federal appeals court decision is expected this summer. The Cowlitz prevailed in the case, but opponents appealed the ruling. But the project’s path to completion hasn’t been a smooth one.Ĭonstruction on the facility was abuzz Monday despite an ongoing appeal in a lawsuit which contends the federal government wrongly approved a reservation for the Cowlitz Tribe. The 368,000-square-foot project is slated to open next spring. “We stand on our shoulders of our ancestors to carry this project forward to completion,” he said. Bill Iyall, Cowlitz tribal chairman, said that the partnership with the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut goes back more than a decade, but that the effort to establish land and an economic base for the Cowlitz people was a culmination of more than a century of effort.

Ilani casino jobs