VISALIA -- Supporters and opponents of a proposal to move Eagle Mountain Casino to a more prominent spot off Highway 190 near Porterville made their cases Tuesday to the Tulare County Board of Supervisors.
"We're trying to gather information," Supervisor Steve Worthley reminded those who packed the two-hour, sometimes heated meeting. "We want to make sure we don't miss anything,"
The supervisors have no jurisdiction over Indian gaming, except that the state has told tribes that operate gaming establishments to negotiate with counties to minimize local effects.
But more than a year ago, the Tule River Indian Tribe, which owns the casino at 340 Indian Reservation Drive -- which is on the reservation -- asked the county for its support of the casino's possible move to a parcel of tribe-owned land off Highway 190, said Samuel Cohen, general counsel for the Tule River Tribal Council.
The proposed Tule River Indian Resort and Casino would be less than 100,000 square feet but would provide a larger casino, a conference center, a hotel and a bingo hall that would double as an entertainment center, Cohen said.
The supervisors have not announced when they will decide whether to support the move.
Those opposed to the plan argue that the casino's move would threaten the area's rural beauty, cause traffic problems along Highway 190, create demands for sewage systems and local water and, ultimately, stifle tourism for Springville.
Those in favor argue that the tribe's expanded casino would create at least 500 jobs, foster tourism, generate more revenue that would, in part, go back to the community and improve safety on the narrow, windy road to Eagle Mountain.
Tribe member Charmaine McDarment told the board that because of a tribal education program, funded by money generated from the casino, she was to become the first person in her family to graduate from college, as well as the first person in the tribe to graduate from law school.