Planning Commission to hold hearing on North County casino
The St. Louis County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Aug. 10 on a proposal for a casino complex on 376.82 acres along Riverview Drive in north St. Louis County.
The site is just south of the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area, 0.9 miles north of Interstate 270. It also is north of the old North Shore country club site, which in both St. Louis and St. Louis County, which people for years have talked about as a location for a casino. Two developers presented proposals for the North Shore site in the 1990s.
The site that is subject of the hearing stretches to the Mississippi River and is entirely in St. Louis County.
A site plan for the complex, called Riverview Casino, shows a casino, convention center, theater, hotel, sports bar, buffet, store space, an 18-hole golf course, a wind farm and more than 8,000 parking spaces.
The public hearing will be in the county council chambers, 1st floor, county administration building, 41 South Central Avenue, Clayton.
The hearing is the start of what could be a long process that a developer must complete before opening the casino. The county council must approve a development plan and the Missouri Gaming Commission must grant the casino a license before it can open. The developer also would have to obtain financing for the complex.
Also, the casino would be the 14th in the state. Last November, voters approved a proposal that included limiting casinos in the state to the 12 existing ones and a casino under construction in Lemay. The Gaming Commission on Tuesday will hold a hearing in Jefferson City on what to do with the President casino in St. Louis. The President is in the historic Admiral riverboat. Federal authorities may close the board if inspectors decide the 100-year-old hull of the boat is unsafe.
Pinnacle Entertainment of Las Vegas has said it would like to move the casino north to the area of the Chain of Rocks Bridge, but now says that area is just one of its options. The gaming commission hearing will consider whether Pinnacle can relocate the President Casino under its existing license or whether the license would be up for grabs if the that casino closes and moves.
North County Development LLC, the developer of Riverview Casino, sought a hearing on its plans before the planning commission last year, but several months before the November election, the company asked that the county put it on hold.
The Missouri Secretary of State’s website lists Edward Griesedieck, a zoning attorney, as North County Development’s registered agent. The same site says Griesedieck is registered agent for Pinnacle Land Development L.L.C.
The Secretary of State’s website does not say whether Pinnacle Land Development has any connection to Pinnacle Entertainment. Griesedieck could not be reached for comment Friday or early today.
Meanwhile, the Spanish Lake Community Association opposes the complex. The association’s service area includes the complex site.
In its current newsletter, the association said the development is too intense for the area. It said the proposal “is totally inconsistent” with the recommendations of the county’s Spanish Lake Community Area Study which calls for low-density development in the area.
Is this an unincorporated area? If so, would the head tax go to the county? If so, will the county commit to earmarking ALL casino revenue to north county projects? It’s really irritating to see all the goodies they’re getting in Maryland Heights and St. Charles, while north county can’t even afford to maintain roads and provide basic services.
Good point Nick. Even if this casino were to be built in this location the money would go to ALL of St. Louis County, not north county. How is that fair? Even excluding that this would go against the commitment that St. Louis County gave in 1999 regarding the Spanish Lake Community Area Study’s recommendation that the area should be protected as a “natural environment”. Rezoning this area for commercial purposes would break that commitment. Also, think about the fact that a casino and the atmosphere that comes with one will be located only a few hundred feet from a middle school! Is this what we want?
Now why in the world would we “allocate” all of the head count revenue to North County. The disaster up there…partly created by Dooley and… is already being subsidized by the well run areas of the County. Here is a better deal…lets cut North County (i.e. St Louis City North) from the rest of the subisidy payroll and give them the head tax in return. Bet they still cant be sufficient and will continue to be a drag on the rest of the region
Better point Common Sense! So why not move this project more south and cut off that county? I’m sure you could survive with that!
Here’s a better Idea. Have The Village of Riverview to set aside land and let them build a casino there. There’s a perfect location Scranton & Lilac.
That area is just about the same distance from the river that Pinnacle Entertainment built its casino downtown and the one in Lemay now under construction.
At the hearing of the St. Louis County Planning Commission last night a group from Riverview stood with Spanish Lake in not wanting this development in our communities. We simple don’t need it.
I think that the Village board is in FAVOR of the casino being put there.
Let’s put this to an official vote and let the people who will be directly affected by this (residents of Spanish Lake & The Village of Riverview) vote on rezoning in our community. That would be the most democratic thing to do.