City confronted with tough decisions surrounding casino

Monday, Aug. 15, 2005 | 11:54 a.m.

RIVERSIDE, Iowa -- Organizers of a new casino are presenting this town of about 1,000 people with some new challenges even before the casino is built.

Washington County Casino Resort General Manager Dan Kehl wants to close a rural road on the edge of town that serves several farm houses, saying it will make the planned 18-hole golf course better.

"We're trying to create the best golf experience," Kehl said.

Kehl said his group is working with the city to create options for residents who need access to the road.

Mayor Bill Poch said one option would be to install cul-de-sacs, one at each end of the road. That way the midsection of the road would be closed, but residents still could get home.

Poch said the cul-de-sacs and the addition of the golf course might even benefit the residents.

"People want to live near a golf course and on a dead end street so they don't have a lot of traffic," he said. "They might find themselves having land worth even more."

The city also has been grappling with where to locate a new water treatment plant to handle a growing community and the casino project.

City Council members have decided that a new water treatment plant will be located on the casino's land, even though that means the city will have to purchase between two and five acres from the casino, Poch said.

Poch said the casino has asked $10,000 an acre for the land, near the golf course site.

Riverside resident Don Prybil is concerned that the new well site is too close to wells he dug for his 16-lot subdivision across the street.

He plans to install monitors at a cost of $400 to $500 each on his three wells to be sure the new well isn't decreasing his water levels.

Riverside city engineer Mike Hart said the new water treatment plant could handle as much as 749,000 gallons a day. Riverside's current water capacity is 252,000 gallons a day.

Hart said the new well site most likely won't impact existing wells, but casino engineers are testing the amount and quality of water there to be sure the site will work.