Recent news that Pinnacle Entertainment now plans to refurbish the aging Admiral riverboat, which houses the President Casino, should have a direct impact on an important St. Louis County Council vote tonight (Nov. 3).

The County Council is to take its third and final vote on changing zoning for 377 acres in north St. Louis County to allow for a casino and entertainment complex directly adjacent to Columbia Bottom Conservation Area — a vote that, in the best interests of the entire community, should be delayed.

The Pinnacle casino license might no longer be available, but there are multiple other reasons that voting on the Riverview Casino is premature. There has been no environmental impact study, and the true economic cost of this development — including squandering $25 million in taxpayer investment in the adjacent Columbia Bottom Conservation Area — needs to be included, as well as the cost of establishing and maintaining services.

Finally, it is not clear that the casino development offers a viable business model in this sagging economy.

The Common Sense Coalition made up of 20 community groups collected more than 2,000 signatures in opposition that will be presented to the council.

The County Council should delay the vote until it is clear whether a casino license is available. Even then, a vote should not be taken until an environmental impact study has been conducted. One of the most significant natural treasures in the nation — the confluence of the two greatest rivers in North America — would be blighted by this massive 377-acre development a little more than a mile away.

The light, noise and stormwater pollution would have a huge negative impact on the surrounding environment and habitat, the very assets that eco-tourists come to see. It would increase water pollution directly above St. Louis' primary drinking water intake through increased sewage and stormwater runoff from the massive 8,000-car parking lot and the loss of wetland filtration.

Most important, once this natural treasure is gone, it will be gone forever — now and for future generations. There will be no opportunity to go back and look at better ways to develop the natural beauty of this area in a way that supports sustainable growth, entrepreneurship and small-business development. It conflicts with sound flood-plain management and the council's own recommendations of the Spanish Lake Community Area, as approved by the St. Louis County Council in 1999, when the county's Comprehensive General Plan was amended. Given the taxpayer-funded infrastructure and maintenance costs, the site is poorly suited for such a development.

For taxpayers, it seems to be a huge waste of $25 million, as well as money from Great Rivers Greenway, Monsanto, Enterprise, Southwest Bank, Commerce Bank and several family foundations that was used to develop the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area. Columbia Bottom has provided recreation, education and job training for thousands of people in St. Louis.

Dozens of governments, non-government organizations and private organizations working to promote the confluence are convinced that this entire riverfront area offers the opportunity to develop a thriving eco-tourism destination to attract visitors from across the nation. With the renewed design competition at the Gateway Arch, it could bring St. Louis, the Mississippi River and the confluence into the national spotlight.

More than $122 billion was spent on wildlife recreation in 2006, contributing millions of jobs and millions of dollars in local, state and federal tax revenue. More than 20 million people traveled away from home to observe wildlife (according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), and eco-tourism is one of the fastest-growing areas in tourism.

The council, of course, sees the promise of jobs. There is no guarantee, however, that this development will succeed — especially in a down economy when travel, convention and discretionary spending have dried up. It is difficult to quantify the new jobs and impossible to guarantee them.

Many existing casinos (all within a half-hour drive) are operating under capacity and are laying off staff. These new jobs probably would be cannibalized from other casinos and hotels.

Casinos primarily make their money by shifting discretionary spending from existing area restaurants, hotels and retailers, many of which struggle to stay afloat in the presence of such massive competition.

A look at the downtown area of Alton, a small riverfront town, shows boarded-up family businesses and restaurants that were unable to compete with neighboring casinos. And casino profits rarely are reinvested in a community and often are sent out of state.

Common-sense economic growth and well-planned development make sense for this area. A casino is the wrong development of the wrong scale in the wrong place.

Without a clear license for a new casino, without an environmental impact study and without a clear analysis of the economic costs and benefits, the rezoning vote must be delayed.

The County Council should avoid the short-sighted view and not waste the treasure of our unique confluence on an unproven quick fix of temporary jobs while missing also the long-term benefits of eco-tourism.

Carol Klein of Clayton is a member of the Community Task Force of the Audubon Center at Riverlands. Cynthia Metcalfe was commissioner of the Missouri Department of Conservation from 2001-2007.