02.14.07
Stabenow to support area casino project
By MIKE CONNELL
Times Herald
Efforts to bring a $300 million casino and resort hotel to Port Huron got a lift Tuesday when one of Michigan's top lawmakers said she'll push for congressional approval of the project.
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said a casino could help the city recover from the economic damage it faces from the proposed expansion of the Blue Water Bridge Plaza.
"I am very concerned about the impact of the (plaza) expansion project on the city," she said in a statement provided to Gannett News Service.
It was one of several developments Tuesday in the controversy swirling around the half-billion-dollar highway project. Elsewhere:
- City Manager Karl Tomion said he has been promised a March meeting to discuss the plaza project with a top-ranking official of the Federal Highway Administration.
- The Greater Port Huron Area Chamber of Commerce renounced its endorsement of the project. A chamber official said efforts to accelerate land purchases in the city before an environmental-impact study is finished had caused the the group to reassess its position.
The Michigan Department of Transportation expects to buy 156 homes and businesses in an area bordered by the Black River, Scott Avenue, 10th Avenue and Hancock Street.
City officials are concerned about losing population and $32 million in the tax base as well as the environmental implications of expanding the plaza to accommodate scores of idling trucks. In terms of commercial traffic, the Blue Water Bridge is the second-busiest crossing on the 5,525-mile U.S.-Canadian border (the mileage includes the Alaskan frontier).
In December, Stabenow visited Port Huron and toured the affected neighborhoods with Tomion, who grew up near the plaza. He asked if she would revive efforts to win congressional approval of a casino at the Thomas Edison Inn.
"Given the financial impact of the expansion on the community, I agree that everything possible needs to be done to support economic development in the region, including the approval of a Port Huron casino," Stabenow's statement said. "I am working with my colleagues in the House of Representatives to resolve the land-claim issue as soon as possible."
Deal remains on hold
The land-claim issue involves a dispute over 110 acres at Charlotte Beach, a community on the St. Marys River south of Sault Ste. Marie in the Upper Peninsula.
In December 2002, just hours before he wrapped up his third term, Gov. John Engler signed off on a deal giving the Bay Mills Indian Community - a Chippewa or Ojibwa tribe - the right to build a casino in Port Huron if it relinquished its claim to the Charlotte Beach tract.
The agreement came as a surprise because of Engler's long record of opposition to casino gambling.
The deal still requires congressional approval, but several attempts to obtain it have been blocked. Stabenow introduced a measure five years ago that was stymied by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Tom Shields, a spokesman for casino developer Mike Malik, said he has been told Reid, who became Senate majority leader last month, has dropped his opposition. Shields also noted Stabenow, who won a second term in 2006, has gained political clout with the Democratic takeover of Congress.
"We've appreciated her support from day one," he said. "With the new Congress, we hope she can bring final approval to the land claim."
He also praised U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, for her efforts to push the project through the House.
Malik, a native of Clay Township and a business associate of the Ilitch family, has been working with the Bay Mills. If the casino wins approval, Malik expects to receive a contract to develop the casino and to manage it for about five years.
More than a casino
If approval is received, Shields predicted it would take less than two years for the casino to open. He declined to give specifics on how large the casino would be or how many people it might employ, but he described past estimates as reliable.
"The plan may be re-evaluated since it's three or four years old," he said. "We'll take a new look, but (the past estimates) are probably a safe number."
Cliff Schrader, a former city councilman and a member of the Thomas Edison Casino Committee, said Malik is proposing a $300 million development that would include a 120,000-square-foot casino and a hotel with at least 350 rooms.
"We're talking about an entertainment complex," he said. "It would be much more than just a casino. It's much more ambitious than what the Canadians have done across the river (at the Point Edward casino)."
Richard Cummings, president of the Michigan Machinists Council and another member of the casino committee, said he has been told the casino would provide 2,500 to 3,000 permanent jobs as well as 600 to 650 construction jobs.
"I like it that our representatives - Senators Levin and Stabenow and Congresswoman Miller - are fighting this battle for the people of Port Huron," Cummings said. "We've been fighting for five years to get this done and create 3,000 jobs for this community, which is in a severe depression."
Cummings said he estimates Port Huron's true unemployment rate at 18%. That includes people who have run out of unemployment benefits and are no longer counted in the government's jobless rate calculation.
"I would hope the rest of Michigan's congressional delegation would get behind this," he said. "We're trying to enhance Port Huron, to diversify its economy and build up tourism."
Pledge for union jobs
Cummings, a former president of the St. Clair County AFL-CIO, supported the casino ahead of a successful advisory vote in June 2001. In exchange for that support, Malik and co-developer Marian Ilitch agreed that the casino would pay union wages.
They also promised to contribute 5% of the casino's net revenues to the city and 3% to the United Way of St. Clair County.
"It would make a real difference for our community," Cummings said. "Studies have shown that a payroll dollar turns over seven times before it leaves town."
Shields echoed the thought that a casino could help replace economic losses caused by plaza expansion.
"It encourages development," he said. "It's a real boost to other businesses."
Chamber backs up
Vickie Ledsworth, president of the Greater Port Huron Area Chamber of Commerce, said the group hopes to meet with Malik soon and decide whether to endorse the casino.
She also said the chamber has rescinded a decision it made last November to support "Alternative 4," or expanding the plaza in the city rather than moving it to Port Huron Township.
"The whole scope of this project has changed, and changed very quickly in the past few weeks," she said, expressing concern over MDOT's request for an SEP-15, or "special exemption project," from the Federal Highway Administration.
The exemption would let MDOT use about $40 million in federal funds to buy property for the project before an environmental impact study is wrapped up in the fall of 2008. In the past, officials said they would not make a final decision on how to proceed until the environmental review was finished.
"As a result, the (chamber) is reconsidering our position of support for Alternative 4," Ledsworth said.
Meeting likely in March
James Steele, the Federal Highway Administration's top official in Michigan, said last week he wanted MDOT and the city to work out their differences before he would sign off on an exemption for the plaza expansion.
Tomion said he was disappointed Monday when he called Steele and could not get a promise that the exemption never would be approved.
"The only commitment I could get from him was that he thought a meeting could be scheduled some time the first week in March, and that the agreement would not be signed until we had a chance to meet and discuss it again," the city manager said.
A March meeting would follow the next session of the influential Michigan State Transportation Commission, which is scheduled to meet Feb. 22 in Lansing.
Tomion repeated his dismay over the idea of buying land and in effect starting the project before environmental questions are answered.
"After years of telling us about how their agencies plan to involve the community in the planning and construction of this project, it is clear that this was only talk," he said.
He said city officials expect to meet with elected officials in Lansing and Washington.
"The mayor, City Council and staff have made it clear that if MDOT and Federal Highway continue forward with their plans, this will lead to a crisis," he said.
'Corridor' moves ahead
While the plaza expansion is mired in controversy, the less controversial half of the $500 million project appears to be moving ahead smoothly.
Steele said he would approve an exemption to begin buying property for the so-called "corridor," which includes a nine-lane bridge over the Black River and improvements to Interstate 69/94 in Port Huron Township.
A massive transportation bill signed into law by President Bush in 2005 included about $40 million for buying property in the Port Huron area.
"If the (SEP-15) is approved, MDOT's first priority for using federal funds to acquire properties would be for those parcels located within the corridor and not the plaza," said Bill Shreck, MDOT's director of communications.
Mike Connell is a reporter and columnist for the Times Herald. He can be reached at (810) 989-6259 or mconnell@gannett.com.
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