Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola sent a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs this week, opposing the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma's application to place 160 acres of its land near the Little Rock industrial port into federal trust unless the tribe agrees to have the land annexed into the city.
In the four-page letter, Stodola said he was concerned that the land could be developed in ways that were "incompatible with industrial use," including "residential, multifamily or commercial" use.
The Quapaw Tribe has not announced plans for any uses for the land other than what it's currently being used for -- soybean farming and the housing of tribal artifacts. Tribal graves, along with graves of former black slaves, are also on the land.
But suspicion from Pulaski County officials has abounded in recent months that the tribe plans to build a casino. Tribe officials have said they don't plan to build a casino but won't say that it would never be considered.
"This is all kind of an unfortunate distraction from what we're trying to do," tribe spokesman Sean Harrison said. "I think if everybody would just understand what we're trying to do, they wouldn't feel so squeamish about all this."
The tribe has argued that placing the land into trust -- which would give the title to the federal government but make the land sovereign -- would protect the land from alienation. Alienation is the ability of a property or property rights to be sold or transferred.
The tribe also argues that placing land into trust is critical for economic development and tribal self-determination.
Voluntarily annexing into Little Rock would allow the tribe to retain property ownership of the land but would subject the land to city authority, laws and land-use rules.
The tribe's land lies in an area considered strategic for expansion of the city industrial port, sandwiched between vacant land owned by the port to the west and Welspun Tubular to the east. It also lies south of the rest of the port, with some noncity land in between.
"I don't understand why it matters," Tribal Chairman John Berrey said of the annexation matter Thursday, noting that Welspun was not initially a part of the city when it built in Pulaski County a decade ago. The company was annexed into the city in 2008.
Port Authority officials have not publicly opposed the tribe's land-to-trust application but have been working with tribe officials on reaching a memorandum of understanding regarding how the land will be developed and how the two entities will work together to preserve the tribe's artifacts.
In his letter, Stodola said the tribe did not need to place the land into federal trust to achieve its goals.
"Chairman Berrey's stated objective of preserving the historical and cultural significance of this property is commendable and the City of Little Rock is willing and able to help with this effort," he wrote, adding that state law "protects all human burials and artifacts found" on public or private lands or waters.
The city was invited to respond to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, given that the land lies within the city's extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction.
Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde has already written a letter to the bureau opposing the application because he did not want the land leaving local control.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson has until June 15 to respond to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Metro on 05/22/2015