By Alex Gary
BELOIT
The Beloit City Council will vote on Aug. 5 and Aug. 19 on a Planned Unit Development and zoning change requested for the Ho-Chunk Casino development.
On Wednesday, by a 5-0 vote, the Beloit Plan Commission approved the zoning change — from a general manufacturing district to a planned unit development district — and the 66-page PUD.
The PUD puts in writing agreements between the Ho-Chunk Nation and the city over such things as building heights, road access, parking, sewer and water uses, stormwater managements, signs and lighting.
Various groups have been working on a casino for Beloit since the 1990s. In 2009, the Ho-Chunk Nation bought 30 acres of land where the St. Croix and Bad River Chippewa bands wanted to build a casino.
In 2012, the city, Rock County and the Ho-Chunk Nation signed an intergovernmental agreement that would govern land use, taxation and financial exchanges between the three parties. A final IGA still has to be reached between the three sides now that construction appears to be imminent.
In 2021, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers approved the casino project and the Bureau of Indian Affairs approved placing 33 acres of the 73.5-acres now owned by Ho-Chunk into trust in 2022.
Ho-Chunk officials said in May that they expect to break ground in the fall. The $405 million project near the corner of Willowbrook and Colley roads near I-90 will include the casino, restaurants, a convention center and an 18-story hotel.
Collin Price, a consultant for the Ho-Chunk Nation, said approving the PUD and IGA are the last hurdles that have to be cleared before construction can begin.
The hotel, which would have a maximum height of nearly 240 feet, would be the tallest building in Rock County. The hotel, restaurants, casino and convention center would add 1,500 jobs, which would make it Beloit’s largest employer.
Ho-Chunk operates six casinos in Wisconsin — Black River Falls, Madison, Nekoosa, Tomah, Wisconsin Dells and Wittenberg.
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