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Edwardsville City Council will consider a rezoning request and a special use permit Monday for the estimated $777 million casino proposed for near 110th Street and Interstate 70 by the Las Vegas Sands Corp.

Because the city received a protest petition from four landowners in opposition to the requests, Sands will need a supermajority of votes - that is, four of the five members must vote in favor of the requests - to win Council approval.

The petition was signed by property owners David Assman, 110 S. 110th St., Richard and Rhonda Herdman, 250 N. 110th St., Mary Shields, 220 N. 110th St., and Marjorie Stierly, 330 N. 110th St.

Assman said the rational for the petition was because the Sands request came in late.

"They had a chance to play on the same even playing field and they didn't do it," he said. "I think they should have had their application in the same time as everybody else."

The city's original deadline for receiving rezoning and special-use permit applications was Jan. 16, which had been set when the state's deadline for cities to forward casino proposals was March 28. The state since moved that deadline back to May 27.

All four property owners have contracts for their land with Golden Gaming Inc., which has its own proposal for a casino in Edwardsville.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. had submitted two casino proposals to the state just before the Dec. 31 deadline - one in Kansas City, Kan., and the other near 110th Street and Interstate 70 in Edwardsville, after the commissioners for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., rejected its initial proposal for that city.

The UG has approved three other casino proposals.

Commissioners for the Unified Government voted this month against a request by Sands to change the casino-proposal process to allow consideration of the Sands Casino's revised application.

Both cities have until May 27 to forward their casino recommendations to the state lottery's Gaming Facility Review Board. The board will choose, by July 28, which of the casino proposals the state will allow to go forward.

The chief planner for the Sands project was to meet with city officials and residents Wednesday to answer questions about the casino proposal.

Other items on the Council's agenda Monday include a request for assessing special bonds for a benefit district for the Midpoint Commercial Center, southwest of Interstate 435 and Kansas Highway 32. The bonds would offset the costs to the center's developer Rapid-Built Properties LLC, for putting in sewers and streets, said City Administrator Mike Webb.

The Council also will consider three bids for improvements to reconstruct Woodend Road, from Ninth Street to just west of 9140 Woodend Rd., and to widen 96th Street from Woodend to Midpoint Drive.

Also to be considered will be a proposed purchase by the Edwardsville Fire Department for new automated external defibrillators and a bid award for pest-control services.

The Council meets at 7 p.m. at Edwardsville City Hall, 690 S. Fourth St.

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