Casino Looking To Move Inland
Mar 10, 2004

A Rock Island riverboat casino is one step closer to heading inland. The site picked for the new casino is owned by a Moline company that has said it will only sell the land if it gets approval to move its sand-and-gravel operation to a nearby area where neighbors have lobbied against a pit for years because of flooding and environmental concerns.

On Monday, the Rock Island City Council gave its OK for the move by voting 5-0 to annex land near Interstate 280 and Illinois 92 and approving two special-use permits for the RiverStone Group's pit, processing plant and sales office.

RiverStone now intends to sell the its 110-acre inland site to Jumer's Casino Rock Island by April 1, The (Moline) Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus reported. But RiverStone has not alleviated the concerns of Big Island residents who fear the pit will cause flooding, contaminate water supplies and endanger wildlife species in the wetlands area.

ChrisTina Kost, liaison officer for the agency maintaining the Big Island-Milan flood control system and a resident's coalition, said the pit's opponents will seek safety measures through the permit process.

On Sunday, more than 2,500 Big Island mining pit opponents participated in a fund-raiser, raising more than $10,000 in two hours, Kost said.

"My father always said there's no substitute for good planning and that's what's missing here," Kost told the newspaper.

Robert Imler, vice president of community and government relations for RiverStone, said the sand and gravel company is not going to jeopardize the good relationship it has had with Big Island residents for 50 years, according to the Quad-City Times.

"We have been a good neighbor, and we will continue to be a good neighbor," Imler told the newspaper. "We've tried to do everything with the greatest care to make sure that all sides had a say in this process."

The casino wants the inland site because it hopes to replace its 12-year-old Mississippi riverboat with a new gambling complex by 2005. The $65 million first phase of the project would include a one-story casino with 1,200 gaming tables and restaurants, Bill Renk, the casino's vice president of sales and marketing, has said.

Jumer's has said it eventually plans to add a 12- to 14-story hotel. Construction on the hotel could begin in early 2007. The Legislature cleared the way for the project last year by approving a bill that lets the Rock Island casino move inland. Plans for the complex would still require approval of the Illinois Gaming Board.

Officials said the inland casino and amenities are expected to bring 250 construction jobs, 150 full-time casino jobs and about 250 hotel jobs.

Source: GamblingMagazine.com