In at little as a month or two, the Ho-Chunk Nation could see a major regulatory decision over its proposal for a casino in Beloit, according to documents released Friday by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.
On Friday the Bureau of Indian Affairs published a notice of availability of its final environmental impact statement on environmental studies the Ho-Chunk tribe had previously completed and submitted to the bureau for the proposed Ho-Chunk Gaming Wisconsin casino in Beloit.
Beloit city officials say the bureau’s notice sets the table for a 30-day comment period that ultimately would end with a decision by the Bureau of Indian Affairs deciding whether to allow the Ho-Chunk to place 33 acres of a larger parcel the tribe owns off Colley Road in Beloit for its “preferred alternative”—a $560 million proposed casino that the tribe and officials have said could ultimately create 1,500 new jobs, and an annual economic impact of 500 million a year, Rock County officials have estimated.
If the Bureau of Indian Affairs gives its OK on the casino proposal, the proposal would go to Gov. Evers’s desk.
Lori Curtis Luther, Beloit City Manager, said she expects that the new, 30-day comment period would give the Bureau of Indian Affairs a chance to review comments that she believes would be based “mainly on the accuracy of the final concept.” She expects a decision by the bureau shortly after that.
The environmental impact statement the bureau released Friday is a final draft. The bureau released an initial draft in November 2018, and a public hearing on the first dreft was held in Beloit in December 2018.
Curtis Luther said the city believes that a final decision from the governor’s office would come in just a few months.
“We’re hopeful to receive final approval by the end of the summer,” Curtis Luther said.
The Ho-Chunk has been gearing since 2012 to move land it owns in Beloit into a trust that could allow its casino proposal to become a reality.
The city of Beloit in a statement Friday morning “another significant step in the process which ultimately will allow for one of the most significant entertainment developments and job creators in the state-line region.”
The documents released Friday detail the “preferred” casino project itself, along with three alternatives, including a smaller casino development; a retail center with no casino; or an option to not develop the land.
The city, Rock County and the Ho-Chunk are all in support of the tribe’s “preferred” project.
The Ho-Chunk has said it’s the only tribe in Wisconsin that doesn’t have a dedicated reservation area. The tribe owns a fractured set of lands around the state and in Minnesota, with about 4,000 acres in trusts that allow developments such as a casino, according to documents filed by the tribe.
The proposal has drawn support from the city because of its promise of hundreds of millions of economic activity linked to the casino’s construction alone, along with future employment growth through the casino’s operation, and annual tax revenues of $50 million.
