Competing casino proposals are back

BARSTOW • Three years after its application was rejected, the Chemehuevi tribe will try again for a Barstow casino down the street from another proposed casino project.

Chemehuevi Chairman Charles Wood confirmed the tribe is preparing its project application and has informally told the Bureau of Indian Affairs of plans for a new resort, casino, spa and possibly a water park. The application will be filed once the tribe updates its original proposal and any traffic and marketing studies used in 2008.

But this time around, the Chemehuevi will own the property where the proposed casino would be. Wood said the tribe is in the process of buying the 40-acre property that was sold by the original property owners right after the casino was first rejected. This ownership should be an advantage for the Chemehuevi, Wood said, because it shows there are no outside developers influencing the tribe.

The Chemehuevi tribe runs the Havasu Landing Casino in Havasu Lake and originally applied to operate a casino near the Barstow outlets in 2006. The Chemehuevi’s application came not long after the Los Coyotes Tribe and Big Lagoon Rancheria applied for a dual casino a mile away.

The two applications were rejected in January 2008 as a result of a federal memo that required casinos to be within a commutable distance from the tribe’s reservation. The Chemehuevi and Los Coyotes reservations are more than 100 miles from Barstow.

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