Tribe applies for federal land trust
Published 1:58 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
SNOQUALMIE – The Snoqualmie Tribe has submitted an application to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, asking the agency to consider placing in trust three parcels of land near Snoqualmie, which could be used as the location for a Tribe-run casino.
The land, which has not been purchased by the Tribe, comprises about 56 acres between 372nd Avenue Southeast and 378th Avenue Southeast near Interstate 90’s Exit 27, according to a July 12 letter from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Puget Sound Agency to King County Executive Ron Sims. The letters states that the land would be used for a casino.
Snoqualmie Tribe Council-man Ray Mullen said the application is part of an ongoing effort to purchase land that began after Snoqualmies were officially recognized by the federal government in 1997. He said the Tribe is considering other locations in the central Puget Sound area.
“We have been looking for property for the last few years,” Mullen said.
“Federal recognition didn’t give us anything but our name, which is plenty, don’t get me wrong,” he added.
Since receiving recognition, the Tribe’s administration staff has increased and requires more space than what it has currently in its office in Fall City.
“We’re starting to grow. We’re starting to get more people. We need more space,” Mullen said.
If the Tribe is able to find and buy land, Mullen said it could be used for a casino, but it would serve other functions as well.
“We’re looking at all facets of development and how to grow,” he said. “But first of all, we need a place for our administration.”
He added later: “We’re going to do whatever’s good for the people.”
The smallest of the three parcels identified by the BIA letter to the county is 43,560 square feet and is owned by Sheila Barker of 8707 378th Ave. S.E. The remaining two parcels are owned by Snoqualmie Hills Joint Venture. Combined, those two parcels total 2.4 million square feet. All three are zoned urban reserve and fall within Snoqualmie’s urban growth boundary.
County records state land values for the three parcels, in order from smallest to largest, are appraised at $94,000, $127,000 and $1.091 million.
Barker, contacted Friday, said she was unaware of her property’s listing on the Tribe’s application to the BIA.
“They haven’t contacted me,” she said. “I haven’t heard anything about it.”
Stanley Surridge, acting superintendent of the BIA Puget Sound Agency in Everett, said the Tribe’s land-trust application is the beginning of a process that could take years to complete.
“It varies on the complexity in each of the applicants …,” he said of the time it takes to approve or deny an application. “And it varies in the complexity of the project.”
He said it would be strictly up to the Tribe to buy the land, adding, “The Bureau is not providing money for the purchase.”
Mullen said when it came time to buy the land, the Tribe would have access to federal start-up money, and it would pursue grants to help offset the cost.
When asked if the Tribe has a goal of when it would like to have the land in hand, Mullen laughed and said, “Yesterday.”
In its letter to Sims, the BIA asked the county to provide the amount of taxes paid on each parcel, as well as zoning and any special assessments placed on the properties. Surridge said the information will be used in deciding whether to approve the Tribe’s application, as will supporting documents from the Tribe itself.
He said ultimate approval of the application would come from Secretary of Interior Gail Norton.
Snoqualmie Mayor Fuzzy Fletcher is adopting a wait-and-see approach to news of the Tribe’s application.
“I don’t have any comment until I see all the facts on the table,” he said.
Mullen said it was more than a bit ironic that the Tribe – whose ancestors lived throughout the Snoqualmie Valley and the central Puget Sound region – if forced to purchase land.
“It’s kind of a shame that we have to buy back something that was once ours,” he said.
