BonnerSprings.com

Bonner Springs — Jesse Truesdale

jtruesdale@theworldco.info

This week marks the end of the first, local phase in decision making for the casino proposal-selection process for Wyandotte County. On Friday all casino proposals endorsed by the Unified Government and Edwardsville must be forwarded to the Kansas Lottery Commission, which will choose one proposal to be awarded the gambling license for the county.

On Monday the Edwardsville City Council approved a resolution endorsing the 200-acre, $600 million Golden Gaming Casino proposal, and the Unified Government Board of Commissioners is scheduled to select which of the four projects now on the table it will endorse. The Board can select more than one.

Bonner Springs won't get a casino, no matter what the Lottery Commission decides, but the approval by its City Council of a comprehensive plan-change and rezoning request for the southern part of the Golden Gaming development is still necessary for much of the project's designation as a "destination casino resort."

The proposed Golden Gaming project straddles the Bonner Spring's boundary with Edwardsville at Riverview Avenue, east of 110th Street. A Tom Watson-designed, 18-hole golf course, shopping and retail district is planned for the southern,159.4-acre Bonner portion of the project, with a hotel, casino and spa slated for the part in Edwardsville. The property is owned by David and Vicki Assmann.

The Planning Commission had unanimously approved at its Nov. 27 meeting a change to the city's comprehensive land-use plan and a rezoning request for the land.

With the City Council's approval, the changes rezone the land from A-1 agriculturally zoned to C-2, general business district. The land-use and zoning designation will revert to the land's original zoning if the general business plan for the district is not approved for the necessary special-use permit.

This week the UG Board has held public hearings on the four casino proposals and on Thursday night the Board will select one or more of them to endorse to forward to the Lottery Commission. Those proposals are:

¢Pinnacle Entertainment 1: A 100,000 square-foot casino, 500-room hotel, with restaurants and lounges, a 100,000 square-foot convention center and retail shopping, on 60 acres near I-435 and Parallel Parkway on the northwest corner of the Schlitterbahn Vacation Village site.

¢ An 80-acre hotel, casino and resort at 118th Street and State Ave, proposed by the Kickapoo-Sac and Fox Tribes.

¢ An estimated $600-million casino, hotel, condos, retail and entertainment development located near Turn 2 of the Kansas Speedway. The proposal is from Kansas Speedway/Cordish Company. The Cordish Company is also developing the Kansas City Live district in downtown. The plan includes 3,000 slots, 100 table games and 300,000 square feet of retail, entertainment and restaurants.

¢ A 1,000-room hotel, a 1,200-seat entertainment venue, a 35,500-square-foot convention center, 200,000 square feet of retail space, plus residential units and a 18-hole golf course near the corner of 110th and Parallel. The plan calls for 3,500 slots, 90 table games, a poker room and a keno parlor. The proposal is from RED Development, Olympia Gaming and the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority.