People Against a Casino Town
News of Interest

CITY OF FLORENCE
TASK FORCE ON CASINO IMPACTS
REPORT ON DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS
and
RECOMMENDED MITIGATION
Presented to Florence City Council October 6, 2003

 
Background:

The Mayor and City Council of the City of Florence, on September 2, 2003, established a Citizen Task Force whose charge was to study and report the potentially detrimental effects (and recommended mitigation) of a casino development on property known as the Hatch Tract. The property lies along the eastern boundary of Florence and has been placed in trust by the Federal government on behalf of the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians.

The Task Force was also charged with seeking information from City staff regarding the capacities of various City services and systems, holding at least one meeting at which public participation would be invited and to provide the Mayor and Council with a comprehensive display of “matters of local concern”. Finally, the report of the Task Force is to be presented to the Mayor and Council at the October 6, 2003 regular City Council meeting.

The members of the Task Force are:

Jon Thompson – appointed as Chairperson
Rodger Bennett
John Buchanan
Arnold Buchman
David Capen
Mike Cocciolo
Anne Kelly
John Scott
Ann Rule
Marteen Wick

The Process:

The Task Force has held four meetings in conjunction with completing their assignments. The first, organizational, session was convened on September 10, 2003. The meeting produced a list of issues, identified information needs and designed a format for identifying public concerns during a public input meeting. Times and dates for subsequent Task Force meetings were established. It was decided to hold the public input meeting at the Florence Events Center and to write letters of outreach to various agencies and organizations, in the Florence Area, whose operations could be affected by the development of a casino.

Six “broad” categories of impacts were identified by the Task Force, believing that most detrimental impact would fall therein. The categories are:
• Impacts on local government
• Transportation related impacts
• Environmental impacts
• Social and Community Service impacts
• Economic impacts
• Other
The second meeting was held on September 18 at the Florence Events Center. Reports were given by Lynn Lamm, Florence Police Chief; Ken Lanfear, Public Works Director; Sandi Young, Community Development Director; and Kevin Rhodes, Events Center Director. The reports detailed the City’s current service delivery capacity and the staff’s best estimate on potential impacts of casino development upon their individual areas of responsibility.

A written input method was used to gather the concerns of citizens. Individual sheets of paper were furnished to list a concern – one concern, one sheet. Participants in the exercise were allowed as many sheets as they had concerns and were encouraged to take active part. A total of 472 written responses were received. A large majority of the information submitted came before the actual exercise was conducted at the meeting. There were input sheets and drop boxes placed in several locations throughout the city as well as at the Events Center. Those issues identified at the meeting were categorized and summarized before the close of the session. Participants had a chance not only to make input but to witness the trends that developed during the session. Nearly all the comments received fell within the categories identified by the Task Force. Comments are listed as an attachment to this report.

The third meeting of the Task Force was held on September 25. The results of the public input session were reviewed and discussed. Comparisons were made with the early issues identified by the Task Force membership. The form of the recommendations for mitigation as well as the method of reporting to the City Council were also discussed and decided. It was also decided to have a fourth and final meeting to fine tune a draft of the Task Force Report prepared by City staff.

The fourth meeting of the group was held on Tuesday, September 30. The draft report was discussed in detail and modified in both form and content. Chairman Thompson thanked the Task Force membership for their hard work and encouraged everyone to be at the October 6 City Council meeting in order to answer questions arising from the Mayor and Council. With that, the Task Force was adjourned without further agenda.

Results

Overriding concerns

The Task force immediately identified two areas of overriding concern that must be mitigated before anyone can give responsible attention to dealing with the issues of developments on the Hatch Tract. The first is the absence of any sort of development plan, scheme, design or scope.  The second is the lack of a defined schedule and plan on the part of the Governor’s Office for dealing with the local issues of public safety, transportation and matters of local concern. It is obvious that appropriate mitigation cannot be planned until the dimensions of the developments are displayed.
Recommended mitigation: The Tribes should be required to submit, a detailed, long term, total build out plan for the Hatch Tract. The submission should be made for preliminary review in the same manner as any normally regulated development. It should include any casino, hotel, RV park, recreational park, retail, housing, entertainment or any other planned activity, now and in the future.

The Governor should establish a schedule of progress for reviewing the Tribes actions toward mitigating the mandated issues. The appropriate participants and review processes should be made known along with the entry points for the identification of local concerns. Timely and appropriate input can be achieved in this way.

Impacts to local government

The Task Force identified impacts on local government services among the greatest concerns. It is clear that the great preponderance of public service demand will fall upon the City of Florence. These concerns were amplified after gathering public input. The greatest number of concerns revealed had to do with the same issues.

First and most obvious, is the demand upon public safety services created by the change in activity. The community will change from being essentially a daylight to dark service provider to a twenty-four hour operation. There will be more people out and about, bringing with them the everyday (and worse) problems of traffic enforcement, accident reporting, DUII incidents, abuse, personal violence and the like, all of which are problems of people who are awake and about.

Second, there will be a strain on the local water and clean water (wastewater management) resources. It is unknown what demand the Tribes’ development on the Hatch tract will be on these resources. Over tapping these resources could not only jeopardize the ability of the City of Florence to continue providing these services to the community, but could seriously damage the local environment if not managed correctly.

Another area of impact will be the uncertainty of general conformance to the Florence community’s development standards and regulations. Areas of building, safety, nuisance and aesthetic control should match the expectations of the community and of the State.

A fourth area of severe detriment will be the effect on the operations of the Florence Events Center. The community constructed the facility in the late 1990’s to boost the local economy by providing a venue for entertainment and conventions. A typical casino operation will be in direct competition with the Events Center.
Recommended mitigation: The Tribes initially should pay a fee for government services to the City in an amount equal to the operational costs of two additional police officers and with provision for future, periodic adjustments in accordance with an agreed upon formula based on  actual experience and the capital costs of the equipment necessary to carry out their responsibilities. Separate, similar agreements should be inked with the West Lane Ambulance District and the Siuslaw Rural Fire District for appropriate safety services, equipment and response methods. The Tribes should also agree to conform to local development standards, such as sign codes, in the same manner that applies to all other developers.

Governor Kulongoski should require a thorough environmental assessment, to be reviewed by the Oregon Departments of Environmental Quality, Water Resources and the local community. The environmental assessment should determine whether connection to the City of Florence Municipal Wastewater Treatment utility would better serve protection of the environment and should further determine the effects of connecting to the City of Florence Municipal Water utility, on protection of the State’s water resource.

The Tribes should agree to not develop a convention/entertainment center on the Hatch Tract for a period of at least ten years after the opening of any casino and should agree to use the Florence Events Center as their base for entertainment and conventions. The Tribes should also agree to collect a lodging fee, equivalent to the locally prevailing room tax, on the rental of hotel rooms or RV spaces that may be developed on the Hatch Tract; and to pay that fee to the City of Florence for use in Florence Events Center Operations as well as community/tourism marketing and promotion.
Transportation

The impacts of increased traffic on the local and regional highway transportation system are seen, by the public, as the greatest threats posed by any casino development. Highway 126 between Eugene and Florence is narrow, crooked and heavily traveled by commercial, private and recreational vehicles. Portions have already reached or exceeded their original design life with increased volume necessarily creating difficult operational and safety problems. It is typically the scene of several serious, sometimes fatal, automobile accidents each year. Highway 101 carries a similar mix of traffic and is only slightly less threatening. Seasonal traffic on this coastal route is already at peak service level. There is legitimate concern about the impacts of the county road system – North Fork Road and Munsel Lake Road – because of residential development in the area. These roads likely will receive demand for access to the Hatch Tract and will serve as shortcuts from nearby highways.

Turning movements on and off highways will change existing traffic patterns, cause slowdowns and hazards. The bridge over the North Fork of the Siuslaw River ends at the intersection of Highway 126 and North Fork Road. It is narrow and will not accommodate turning lanes demanded by high traffic producing development such as a casino. There is no traffic signal at the intersection and visibility is poor, especially to the east.
Recommended mitigation: The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) must include major improvements to Highway 126 between Eugene and Florence. Passing lanes must be lengthened and increased in number. Slow vehicle turnouts, similar to those developed on Highway 101, must likewise be developed. All bridges between Mile Post 15 and Mile Post 30 must be widened and straightened.

The Tribes should be required to widen Highway 126 and North Fork Road in the vicinity of the Hatch Tract. . A traffic signal(s) should be installed. Methods to discourage traffic on North Fork Road and Munsel Lake Road must be employed to the maximum extent possible. Use of turning prohibitions, multiple stop signs and increased enforcement of speed limits must be likewise maximized. The Tribes should agree to support bus service (such as the “Rhody Express”) in the area in order to reduce vehicle load on streets and highways.
Environmental Impacts

There are obvious impacts on the local environment. Chief among them are the strain on the local water supply, the likelihood of pollution from wastewater disposal and degradation of both on site (and nearby) wetlands and the North Branch of the Siuslaw River caused by urban run off. Light pollution from typical casino signage and visual – image – pollution are probable.  Noise pollution affecting nearby residential areas is a possibility as well.

The change in community personality from a friendly fishing village to a casino town is a serious polluting impact on the established tourist-based economy and the retirement-attracting residential housing market as well.
Recommended mitigation: Again, Governor Kulongoski should require a thorough and
aggressive environmental analysis with recommended mitigating measures. Chief among the
issues addressed must be the stewardship of the water and clean water resources. The Tribes
should comply with local development codes regarding all aspects of such development.
Buffering from nearby neighborhoods, lighting and signage should fall within such considerations.
Economic Impacts

A number of detrimental economic impacts have been identified: Possible increases in local property tax [increases] (from increased public service demands), property and automobile insurance premiums (from lower levels of police protection and higher traffic-accident risks) unfair competitive advantage for food service, lodging and retail services (from tax exempt status), the potential for the Tribes to add land to the already tax exempt Hatch tract (thereby taking more property from the local tax base) and the creation of direct competition with the community’s Florence Events Center. Lower local property values, loss of room tax revenue from local hotels and motels and negative effects on the local work force have also been named. One serious concern, felt by the business community, is the certainty that the drain of discretionary dollars into a casino will cause local businesses to fail – the little guy will suffer.
Recommended mitigation: The Tribes should agree to withhold development of
activities/services that would compete with local businesses and the Florence Events Center. At such time as a hotel/motel/RV park might be developed, the Tribes should charge an occupancy rate equal to the local lodging tax and remit that to the City. The Community Services Fund, required by the Compact between the Tribes and the State of Oregon, should be directed primarily toward the greater Florence community.
Social/Institutional Impacts

Of very great concern are the impacts on the institutions in the community who assist people in need. The Siuslaw Outreach Center, Florence Food Share and Peace Harbor Hospital are notable examples of agencies whose burden will increase because of the increased presence of people with addictive problems. The Siuslaw Outreach Center will see an increase in the incidence of abuse and abandonment. Peace Harbor will experience a greater burden of unpaid, un-reimbursed medical treatments. People whose last scrap of resource is gone will be at the door the Food Bank. Juvenile behavioral problems will increase. Pawnshops will spring up – and prosper. A pressing need will exist for child care for people who are parents and employees or patrons of any casino.
Recommended mitigation: The Tribes should make direct, contracted contributions to the Siuslaw Outreach Center in the amount of $40,000 per year and to the Florence Food Share in the amount of $25,000, with provision for future, periodic adjustments in accordance with an agreed upon formula based on actual experience. The Tribes should enter into an enforceable agreement with Peace Harbor Hospital to guarantee payment for treatment of people who experience illness or injury sustained while patronizing/visiting any casino or other public offering on the Hatch Tract. The Tribes should provide funds for the establishment of a community based child care center or, in the alternative, establish an on-site child care center that is available to the community.
Overall Impacts

It needs to be repeated that the greatest public burden of service to a casino, or any other development on the Hatch Tract, will fall upon the City of Florence. No other agency will see the direct increase of load, in either percentage or number. The State of Oregon will receive direct payment for oversight of the gaming operations. Lane County will control access and local road improvements but those costs will be borne by the developer. The Lane County Sheriff will experience greater traffic enforcement responsibilities, but that activity has a proven

history of yielding net excesses of revenues over expenditures. The City Of Florence will carry the everyday costs of tending to traffic accidents, rowdyism, violence, family neglect and abuse, human relief, crime intervention and the dozens of other tasks necessary to make a community livable. An example of a cost that will be significant, by itself, is that of monitoring the pawn shops that are expected to spring up. Increases in social relief will fall upon Florence Food Share and Florence Outreach Center. For those reasons this Task Force strongly recommends that the focus needs to be on Florence for the Community Benefits fund that is mandated by the Tribes Compact with the State of Oregon. As currently written, five Oregon counties are listed as impact area and proposed beneficiaries of the fund, support by a percentage of the proposed casino’s net income. The burden of support will fall upon Florence and the surrounding area and upon the Highway 126 transportation corridor. It seems only fair that a casino should help carry the burden it will create.
Recommended mitigation: Modify the compact to include only agencies in Lane County as eligible for the proceeds of the Community Benefits Fund and increase the contributions from the present 2% - 4% - 6% to 5% -10% - 15%.
Conclusion

There are several attachments to this report. First among them is summary of the written inputs made by citizens. The Task Force recommends that the summary be made a part of this report.

There is also a listing of the various inputs, including opinions that were submitted during the public input process. The Task Force has culled the opinions and included those deemed pertinent into the summary. This was done in order to achieve maximum inclusion of community concern.

There are also letters from individuals and groups who took time to offer data to the Task Force. The letters come from such agencies as the Lane County Health and Human Services Department, the Western Lane Ambulance District and L & M Catering. There is a letter concerning the lack of availability for child care from Kathleen Margerum and there are reports on City utility capacities from Ken Lanfear, Florence Public Works Director. These thoughtful submissions added knowledge and emphasis to the mission of the Task Force.

The Task Force is very glad to have completed our mission. We are also grateful to the Mayor and Council for the opportunity to contribute to the public process in our community. You have our commitment to your cause and our best wishes for success.
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