Tribe plans electronic bingo hall - 24/7

Tracy Stanhoff, chairwoman of the tribal council of the Prairie Band Potawatomi nation, welcomes attendees to a town-hall-style meeting at the Indian Oaks Country Club in Shabbona on Thursday. Chronicle photo CURTIS CLEGG

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Resident reaction is mixed; gambling called ‘a little scary' By Chris Rickert - City Editor SHABBONA - Formally ending weeks of speculation about what it planned to do with 128 acres of farmland it purchased in April, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation laid out detailed plans Thursday for a 22,000-square-foot bingo parlor. During a town-hall-style meeting at the Indian Oaks Country Club, Tribal Chairwoman Tracy Stanhoff displayed slides showing the proposed development at the southwest corner of University and Preserve roads, the former Adeline Ward property. In addition to the 750-station electronic bingo parlor, there would be a 2,500-square-foot government center and 200-car parking lot. The tribe plans to have the bingo parlor open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and estimates that in addition to players who come on their own, four to five charter buses would arrive at the site each day. No liquor would be served or allowed in the bingo hall. Stanhoff also said that a previous plan for a massive resort-casino complex, floated among some state and local officials three years ago, is &#8220not in the cards right now.” &#8220Las Vegas (-style development) is not something we are looking at today right at this time,” she said, although she declined to rule it out at some point in the future. A casino would require the tribe to enter into a compact with the governor that would then have to pass the General Assembly, she said, but a bingo parlor needs no such approval under federal law. There is no Indian gaming in Illinois now. &#8220It would be the will of the state to have us do that,” she said of developing a casino. She did say a hotel on the site was possible at some point. Stanhoff said the tribe would cover the costs of any impact the development would have on things like roads and fire and police service. &#8220We will not become your burden,” she told the audience that filled the country club's main room. She also said that the tribe regularly makes charitable donations to organizations near its other reservation - which includes a casino - in Kansas and indicated it would likely do the same in Shabbona. Most of the jobs at the bingo parlor would likely be filled by local residents, she said, with salaries ranging from $27,000 to $34,000 a year. She said the tribe hoped to begin construction of the government center as soon as possible. Stanhoff and the rest of the tribal council took questions from the audience for about 50 minutes after their presentation. Most questions concerned details of the project and how the tribe planned to bring necessary infrastructure to the rural site. But there were clearly those opposed to the project. Mel Hass said that while the Potawatomi appeared to have a well-run operation in Kansas, &#8220I'm dead set against what you're doing (in Shabbona). &#8220I'm not seeing any benefits to me whatsoever,” he said, adding that he didn't move to his home outside Shabbona to see traffic streaming past his home on the way to the bingo parlor. Twenty-year Shabbona resident Jude Mayer told Stanhoff that she didn't mind the government center or a hotel, &#8220but I think gambling is a little scary.” She asked the tribe to take a poll of the people at the meeting on whether they were in favor of having the bingo parlor at the site. Stanhoff declined. Less vocal during the question-and-answer session were those who supported the tribe's plans and told Stanhoff so after the meeting was over. &#8220The Indians are here and they're going to make this place a better community,” Ron Pantcilla of Shabbona said. He thought the development would be a boost for businesses in Shabbona, population 900. Several audience members on Thursday questioned whether the tribe had a legitimate claim to the land, which is part of 1,280 acres last occupied by Indians in the mid-1800s. Stanhoff referred to a 2001 Department of the Interior opinion that held the Prairie Band had a &#8220credible claim” to the land under the 1829 Prairie du Chien treaty. Illinois officials, including U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, have questioned that claim Hastert spokesman Brad Hahn said this morning that Hastert continues to &#8220monitor the situation” and work with local and state officials. &#8220The tribe does not have reservation standing in Illinois,” state Sen. Brad Burzynski, R-Clare, said this morning. He said he and state Rep. Bob Pritchard, R-Hinckley, have requested a legal opinion from the federal government on whether the tribe can go ahead with development on the land. Stanhoff said that during a meeting this spring with members of Hastert's staff, the tribe asked them what kind of development would be more appropriate on the land. She said Hastert's staff suggested some kind of energy-related development, such as a nuclear power plant, might be more appropriate. Hahn, though he was not at that spring meeting, said Stanhoff's contention about the nuclear power plant was &#8220absurd.” &#8220The congressman in no way supports that kind of use for that land,” he said. Any other development in unincorporated DeKalb County would be subject to the county's zoning rules and thus give the county board some control over how it proceeds. Stanhoff said &#8220our (building) codes mirror the county code,” but maintained that the county would have no role in authorizing construction on the land. County Administrator Ray Bockman said today that the county is &#8220waiting for resolution of a number of questions from the state's attorney's office” and that the county's position, for now, remains that the tribe's land falls under the county's jurisdiction. He said that if the tribe begins doing work on the land before those questions are resolved, &#8220absent something from the state's attorney, we would again issue a stop-work order.” Chris Rickert can be reached at crickert@daily-chronicle.com.