Before casino proposal died, other localities wanted in on the action
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A proposal to develop casinos on non-tribal land in rural parts of North Carolina won't be part of the state budget and likely won't get a vote as a standalone measure either, top Republican lawmakers announced Tuesday night.
"I do not see us voting on those at any point in the coming weeks," Senate leader Phil Berger said.
While the proposal generated pushback in the legislature and among some locals in Nash and Rockingham counties — two of the locations picked to host the casino-anchored "rural tourism districts" — other localities were hoping they'd get a chance.
“We have a location right here on I-95 that is ideal,” Roanoke Rapids city manager Kelly Traynham told WRAL.
That location: The Carolina Crossroads entertainment district, site of the ill-fated Roanoke Rapids Theatre, in Halifax County. This summer Roanoke Rapids changed its zoning laws to allow something else there: a casino.
Halifax was among 14 counties eligible for a "rural tourism district" under the latest version of the casino bill released by Berger's office earlier this week. The proposed legislation would have only allowed three sites and Anson, Nash and Rockingham counties were the specific targets.
The 14 counties were: Anson, Bertie, Chowan, Edgecombe, Halifax, Hertford, Martin, Nash, Northampton, Rockingham, Tyrrell, Vance, Warren and Washington.
The bill called for casino developments to create at least 1,750 jobs and include $500 million in development.
City leaders called it a potential game-changer for Roanoke Rapids, which has been reeling since the area’s last mill closed down in 2003.
“Thousands of jobs were lost here locally, and our population continues to decline,” Traynham said. “And jobs are needed to sustain livelihoods.”
Roanoke Rapids was not alone.
"There were a lot of other counties that stepped forward and wanted the opportunity," House Speaker Tim Moore said Tuesday morning. "A lot of these rural counties wanted to get an opportunity to be able to make a bid for these projects."
Not everyone was onboard, however.
At the Sept. 18 Halifax County Board of Commissioners meeting, commissioners voted 3-2 against supporting a casino — echoing a familiar split between cities and counties.
It’s the same story in the county to the south.
A tract of land by the intersection of I-95 and U.S. 64 in Rocky Mount has been one of the first sites considered for a new casino.
The city’s mayor says he believes city leaders are in favor of the move despite the Nash County Board of Commissioners voting against a potential casino in July.
“We’ve been in search of something that generates high-paying jobs,” Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson said. “That creation of that live, work, play environment is something that’s really big.”
Berger, a top proponent of the casino plan, said the issue had gotten too emotional to garner the support necessary to pass. The fight over casinos held up the state budget. Berger said Tuesday the budget would move ahead without the casino proposal in it.
"There's a whole lot of talk about 'we need to help rural North Carolina,' but when we have a proposal that actually would create over 5,000 good-paying jobs in rural North Carolina, these same folks come out adamantly opposed," Berger said.
The proposal called for local approval of the projects. If the district were in an unincorporated area of a county, the county commissioners would have to vote, Moore said earlier Tuesday. If it were in a city with a population of more than 50,000, then the city council would have to approve, Moore said.
WRAL News reached out to the four counties in our area that haven't voted against supporting a casino.
Leaders in Vance, Northampton, and Edgecombe counties said any decision on a casino would have to be made by a vote from the board of commissioners. Warren County didn’t respond.
