EQC land moves to trust status

By Matt Nagle

Fife Free Press
mattnagle@tacomaweekly.com
Published on: June 05, 2008

The Puyallup Tribe’s Planning and Land Services Department has received final deed documentation that puts the property on which the Emerald Queen Casino in Fife sits into federal trust status.

“This is a huge deal for the tribe. It gives us full jurisdiction over the property,” said Senior Land Services Specialist Chester Earl, lead staff member on the “fee to trust” operations for the tribe.

The change will do away with property taxes and other fees the tribe has had to pay to local governments. He said the state will have no more authority over the property, as all regulations will now be under the tribe’s control.

“This will make it much easier on us,” said Tribal Council Chairman Herman Dillon, Sr.

Earl said there are more than 30 parcels of tribal land that are waiting to go through this “fee to trust” process.

Raul Ramos, director of the department, said tribal council has made the task of getting tribal lands into trust status a top priority, going to the extent of creating an expert team with councilmember Larry LaPointe as the council’s representative along with other staff from the Planning and Land Services Department. The team “has done an excellent job of coordination with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to approve this property to move into trust,” he said.

This accomplishment is also due in part to the council’s recent directive to reorganize the Tribe’s process for managing and tracking “fee to trust” applications within the department, said Ramos.  

“It’s been the culmination of lots of people’s involvement and determination. We work as team here and we’re all committed to getting this done.”

Story Tools

This Week's
Front Page