6 April 21 - May 4, 2007
Community
www.SanTanSun.com
Indian gaming from Page 1
The compact between the state of Arizona and the “The traffi c wouldn’t be any more than a big-box
sovereign entity of the Gila River Indian Community retail center would generate,” Gutenson says, “and
dates from 1988 and details a variety of constraints there will be a 100-foot landscaped buffer on all
such as the number of gaming devices and table sides, versus the typical 25- to 50-foot margins most
games the casino can operate, safety and security developments allow. In addition, the facility will be
provisions, and the portion of profi ts that the tribe set back a quarter-mile on the north side with 15
must contribute to the state. landscaped acres along the approximately two-thirds
of a mile of Hunt Highway.”
Chilly reception from neighbors Solera homeowner Larry Dalton is one of many who
Valerie King of Sun Groves asks “What can be disagree.
done to stop it (the casino) from blemishing our “The traffi c close to Gilbert Road and Hunt highway
STSN photo by Gordon Murray
neighborhood??” MOVING: The Lone Butte Casino will be moving from near I-10 and will be very bad,” he writes. “As a resident of Solera I
Since the GRIC is legally a sovereign entity, they’re
the Santan Freeway to 380 acres of Gila land at Hunt and Gilbert.
oppose this Casino in our backyard. It makes more
free to do whatever they wish with the land itself and sense for it to be on I-10 and Riggs exit.”
there’s nothing Chandler, the county or state can do a casino built across the street from us. There are a lot Once the tribe’s traffi c study is done, it will be up to
about it. of reasons for this, but the main one is simply because Chandler to decide what to do with the information.
And that’s what has residents concerned. ultimately the casino will destroy the fabric of the “We know it could be an issue, and we’ve told the
The city received more than 40 emails and 12 direct neighborhoods in which we live.” tribe it could be an issue, and they said they’ll work
phone calls to the public information offi ce on the with us, but we have to see what the study shows
subject, all expressing “concern” about the GRIC’s Traffi c study underway in terms of trip generation and then we’ll deal with
plans. A major concern of Chandler residents has to do whatever happens,” says Phipps.
“I’d characterize them as not happy, though some with traffi c and the infrastructure needed to support Trip generation is a traffi c engineering term that
people are reserving judgment,” says Jim Phipps, a it. Since Hunt Highway is in Chandler, it will be up to relates to the number of average daily trips to and
public information offi cer for the city. “The fact is we the city to determine what, if anything, to do about from a site.
have no jurisdiction over tribal property.” that based on a traffi c study being conducted by the According to Phipps, a 12-pump gas station with
Letters to the SanTan Sun News editorial department GRIC. convenience store or a 300-unit apartment complex
are also unfavorable. The Community says results of the traffi c study, due both generate 2,000 trips daily, whereas a Home
Paul Aspen of Springfi eld Lakes says he wishes he’d out by the end of this month, will be shared with city Depot-like operation brings an average of 5,000 trips
been given some warning. offi cials. However, they think people will see that the per day.
“What frustrates me the most is how there was casino will not change traffi c that much. “Between Riggs Road and Hunt Highway, we have
never any notice given to any of us living down here,” “The casino itself is not a tremendous generator of eight lanes within one mile of the new casino site
he emails. “One reason a lot of us moved here is to traffi c,” says Dale Gutenson, a Chandler resident and – that’s a lot of pavement going east and west. And
get away from the congestion plaguing our city, our executive director of the Casino Expansion Owner’s it’s not like a Cardinals stadium event where everyone
Valley.” Team, a group of community leaders from the GRIC. shows up at one time and leaves at one time. It’s a
S. Chandler residents Charles Derra and Lisa Beggs Gutenson points out that the Vee Quiva casino 24-hour facility with people coming and going at all
agree that it will affect their neighborhood. south of the I-10 freeway on 51st Avenue is the same
“We live in Cooper Commons and we do not want size as Lone Butte and is served by a two-lane road.
See Indian gaming Page 8
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