Rendering courtesy Tohono O’odham Nation A rendering of the proposed Tohono O’odham casino/resort in Glendale

Glendale officials and the Tohono O’odham Nation are playing a high-stakes poker game over a casino project that could change Westgate’s future.

To the Tohono O’odham Nation, a plot of former farmland in the West Valley is an opportunity to replace lost land and ensure tribal prosperity in the years to come. To Glendale city officials, it represents a jurisdictional threat and an unfair burden to its citizens.

The southern Arizona-based tribe plans to build a 600-room resort and casino on 135 acres of unincorporated land at Northern and 91st avenues near Glendale’s sports arenas. At stake is the future of a Valley pocket considered prime for economic growth: land that could create jobs and revenue for the tribe but would be exempt from local zoning restrictions, compete with Glendale’s sports and entertainment district and bring in no direct city tax dollars if it is converted into reservation land – an issue that federal officials recently weighed in on, giving a boost to the tribe’s project.

Glendale City Attorney Craig Tindall says the ramifications for the city are huge. Officials are concerned about everything from water rights and zoning control to property values surrounding the reservation and burdens on infrastructure like roads and public safety services. The city estimates that public safety costs could go up $3.5 million annually, and the project would lead to millions more in additional water, wastewater and traffic costs for the city because the tribe is not obligated to pay for them.

“This is a very small area within the City of Glendale. We surround it,” Tindall says. “One of the most frustrating things for us… the people that live around there would have no voice in this whatsoever.”

But to the tribe, building the casino resort there represents payback for nearly 10,000 acres near Gila Bend in the nation’s San Lucy District, including a major tribal farm, that were destroyed by continual flooding in the 1970s and 1980s after the federal government built Painted Rock Dam. In exchange for that land, Congress granted the tribe the right to purchase almost 10,000 acres of new property in Pima, Pinal or Maricopa counties that could be converted into new reservation land.

In 2003, the tribe quietly purchased the property under an assumed name. It was not until last year, when the tribe asked the U.S. Department of the Interior to formally add the land to its reservation, that ownership of the property – and its plans for a gaming facility – came to light.

Renderings and descriptions on the project’s website depict an upscale resort lined with palm trees and featuring a full-service spa, large convention and meeting space, retail and restaurants and a 150,000-square-foot gaming floor. The tribe says it would create 6,000 construction jobs and more than 3,000 permanent jobs, generating $300 million annually in economic benefits for the region, according to the website.

Glendale officials, however, question the assumptions that the tribe used to develop the analysis, especially during the current economic downturn. The city’s economic study found the project would have a devastating impact on local businesses by competing for limited spending.

The project faces fierce opposition from the Gila River Indian Community, which operates the casino now closest to Glendale, and several other tribes. Governor Jan Brewer, Republican Arizona senators John McCain and Jon Kyl and several other officials have come out against the project.

But a poll commissioned by the Tohono O’odham in March found 68 percent of West Valley residents surveyed supported it. And Peoria Mayor Bob Barrett and the City of Tolleson have expressed their support too.

“We as a city think this is a good thing for everybody,” Tolleson Mayor Adolfo Gamez says. “The way the economy is, jobs is what we need. If we are looking at 6,000 (construction) jobs, many of those workers will come from my community.”

Arguments about jurisdiction over the land have tied up the project – for now. The city’s efforts to block the project won a victory in March when a state court decided 46 of the 135 acres had been annexed into the City of Glendale and could not be considered part of the Tohono O’odham’s tribal reservation.

On July 23, however, the Interior Department issued a major decision in the tribe’s favor. Officials approved the tribe’s application to recognize 54 acres at the site as reservation land under tribal control, ending a stalemate that had lasted for more than a year. At press time, tribal chairman Ned Norris Jr. could not be reached after repeated requests for comment by PHOENIX magazine.