SNOQUALMIE – City officials are flying south this winter to visit a casino much like the one the Snoqualmie Tribe wants to build near Snoqualmie.

Mayor Fuzzy Fletcher, City Administrator Gary Armstrong, City Attorney Pat Anderson and Department of Public Safety Director Don Isley will travel to Arizona this Friday, March 15, and return this weekend. They will visit Casino Arizona, operated by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community on its reservation near Scottsdale, a suburb of Phoenix.

The Snoqualmie officials were invited to tour the facility by the Snoqualmie Tribe, which is paying for the visit. Fletcher said he considers it a due-diligence trip, as the city has agreed to discuss providing services to the Snoqualmie Tribe’s proposed casino, including water, sewer, fire and police services.

The Tribe wants to build the casino on 56 acres in the city’s urban growth area, near Exit 27 of Interstate 90 on Southeast North Bend Way.

Stephen Walker, whose Snoqualmie Hills Joint Venture owns the land near Snoqualmie and who is working with the Tribe to develop the casino, said Casino Arizona was chosen because it resembles the type of facility that would be constructed here. It has a gourmet restaurant, Cholla, and it features a 250-seat theater for performances.

The proposed Snoqualmie Tribe casino, a three-story, 175,000-square-foot structure, would have a gourmet restaurant, two less-expensive restaurants and a 400-seat theater.

David LaSarte, executive director of the Arizona Indian Gaming Association, which represents the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and 16 other tribal governments on gaming issues, said Casino Arizona lies at one end of the spectrum of casinos found in the state.

“It’s really probably the nicest facility in the state,” he said.

Casino Arizona is actually two casinos, explained Pam Hait, a spokeswoman for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. The first temporary casino opened on the community’s reservation in June 1998, while a second temporary casino opened in March 1999.

In September 2000, a 100,000-square-foot permanent facility debuted at the first location, and the community is now working to replace the temporary casino at the second location with a permanent structure. Snoqualmie city officials will visit the permanent casino.

Casino Arizona is not affiliated with Phoenix businessman James Miller or his two companies, MGU LLC and MGU Development LLC, which are working with the Snoqualmie Tribe to develop its proposed casino.

The number of casinos a Native American tribe can operate in Arizona depends on its population. Hait said the Salt River tribes are allowed three casinos, but will likely keep just the two locations, each near Highway 101, which is a major freeway in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community was the last in the state to obtain a gaming compact. Former Gov. Fife Symington opposed the community’s plans to build the casinos, saying they would be too close to an urban area. The community sponsored a referendum that forced the state to grant it a compact, which was approved by almost two-thirds of Arizona voters in 1996.

“The casinos have really been the biggest nonevents in the history of Scottsdale,” said Hait of the neighboring city’s concerns.

“They’re neighborhood entertainment centers, and it’s to their benefit to be good neighbors.”

Hait said when designing the permanent casino, the Salt River tribes wanted it to be as luxurious as possible, using real stone, wood and marble, and buying hand-loomed carpet from London. It features a contemporary Native American art collection, five restaurants, a piano lounge and the theater.

“They wanted to hold onto their traditions and values,” said Casino Arizona General Manager Jon Jenkins of the look of the casino, which matches the earth tones of the Southwest desert.

During the past four years, Casino Arizona has quickly risen to become the most popular Native American casino in the state. Jenkins said one of the reasons for that is because it offers more than just gaming.

“The whole secret is not to just deliver a casino. Gaming, in and of itself, needs to be diversified,” he said.

That sentiment mirrors what the Snoqualmie Tribe wants to accomplish near Snoqualmie with its proposed casino. It hopes the casino will be a “destination” where people can come to do more than play slot machines or poker.

But the similarities between the Tribe and the Salt River community end there. The Salt River tribes have more than 7,000 members and a reservation of more than 53,000 acres. Before building the casinos, they’d been successful in operating other enterprises, including a landfill, a cement company and a sand-and-gravel business.

Other economic development ventures include two golf courses, a trap and skeet shooting business, a communications business and a development company.

The Snoqualmie Tribe has more than 1,000 members and has yet to establish a reservation, although its application to place 56 acres near Snoqualmie in trust is currently under review by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The casino would be the Tribe’s first major economic development enterprise since it reclaimed federal recognition in 1999.

Jenkins said he has discussed the proposed casino with Snoqualmie Tribe leaders and he likes what he’s heard.

“From what I know in a general manner, they’re going after a quality product, and they’re doing a lot of homework,” he said of the Tribe.

You can reach Barry Rochford at (425) 888-2311, or e-mail him at barry.rochford@valleyrecord.com.