Broken Arrow Residents Angry Over Casino Construction

A construction project in Broken Arrow has residents upset.

The Kialegee Tribal Town is building a casino just north of the Creek Turnpike on 129th East Avenue.

The Broken Arrow city council says they can't do anything about it, but they expected to get an earful from angry residents at their Tuesday night meeting.

Heavy machinery is preparing the ground for the first casino to be built in Broken Arrow.

The Kialegee Tribal Town, which shares citizenship with the Muskogee (Creek) Nation, is building the Red Clay Casino at the intersection of 111th and 129th East Avenue across the street from Tulsa Tech.

"It's dreadful, it's terrible. I mean, who would want a casino built in their backyard basically," said Tim Lange, area resident.

Lange is president of a nearby homeowner's association. He says his neighbors are worried about what the casino will bring to this quiet part of the city.

"Traffic, crime, big billboards that pollute the skyline. All the stuff that goes with it, traffic at two in the morning going up and down the streets...the kind of people that casinos draw," Lange said.

Lange says residents here are angry that plans for the casino were never made public; he says everyone feels left in the dark about the development.

But Stephanie Higgins with the city of Broken Arrow says there's not much the city can do. The land is owned by the tribal town, and since it's considered a sovereign nation they're not obligated to tell the city or area residents anything.

"We have no jurisdiction over anything that they want to build or whatever they want to do on that property other than water and sewer," said Broken Arrow Spokesperson Stephanie Higgins.

Higgins says the city will provide water and sewer up to the property line where the tribe will take over.

"I know how the law works but it's a shame that there's a different set of rules," said Pastor Chris Buskirk.

Buskirk is pastor of a Methodist church just down the road from the casino. He's worried about what impact the casino will have on the people who live in Broken Arrow.

"I'm sure they mean no harm in what they're doing but harm does come, usually, from gambling," he said.

Broken Arrow Schools is planning to build an elementary school a half-mile from the casino. It says it has no plans to change that and there is no state law requiring casino's to be a certain distance from a school.

A message left for the chief of the Kialegee Tribal Town was not returned.