Dec. 27, 2004 12:00 AM

The casino that sprouted 10 years ago from the fertile farmland of the Ak-Chin Indian Community has provided a cash crop unlike any other for the small farming tribe.

Now leaders are pondering what to plant there next to capitalize on the explosive growth bearing down on their land.

"That's our field of dreams," Tribal Council Chairman Terry Enos said last week, gesturing toward Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino Resort, which opened Dec. 27, 1994.

Gambling revenues have helped fund projects that include about 90 new homes with free utilities for tribal members, a new gym, a center for the elderly, and better health care. Members do not receive cash stipends.

Community member Brenda White, 47, one of the beneficiaries of casino-supported housing, speaks highly of changes at the reservation.

"I'm glad I lived to see it," she said.

Despite the many improvements, the Ak-Chin, like other casino tribes in Arizona and elsewhere, still see much to do. The community has decades of physical, social and economic woes to overcome.

That's why the next crop the tribe sows in its field must produce. Ideas include a regional mall with theaters and restaurants for the U-shaped field of 200-plus acres surrounding the casino. Doubling the size of the casino's busy 146-room hotel also appears certain.

A possible template for Ak-Chin is the District at Green Valley Ranch, a shopping-restaurant attraction near the Green Valley Ranch resort and casino outside Las Vegas. The district includes a "Main Street" bordered by shops and topped by high-end offices and lofts. The tribe hasn't picked a direction yet and will solicit community input before breaking ground, which appears unlikely before 2006.

Enos and Ak-Chin community planner Bart Smith see the future development as a chance to create jobs for community members, provide a sales outlet for tribal and non-tribal entrepreneurs, and churn new community revenue to complement the tribe's farming and small industrial park. Residents in the neighboring city of Maricopa would be critical to staffing the development because of the tribe's small adult population and 1 percent unemployment rate.

While Enos and Smith say it's vital to plan smart, there seems to be a hint of urgency. The metropolitan growth machine - with its accompanying people, money, business and opportunity - has pushed to their doorstep.

'Overwhelming' growth

Massive subdivisions with typical stucco homes, sound walls, palm-lined entrances and sales centers with huge American flags already rise near Ak-Chin. A Bashas' supermarket anchors a strip center that includes a bank, a dry cleaner and movie rental and sandwich shops.

A Fry's supermarket is planned across Arizona 347, one of many projects under way. At least 9,200 homes are slated in communities near the casino, according to a Maricopa city representative.

Heavy equipment is busy grading dirt and cutting trenches as another boomtown rises from the desert.

Maricopa's city Web site predicts 24,000 residents by the end of 2005 and 185,000 by 2025. The population 10 months ago was 5,000.

Ak-Chin's challenge: How to exploit that growth in ways compatible with the tribe's land and farming culture.

"It's overwhelming in that . . . all of a sudden we're not secluded anymore," Enos said. "(Developers) have opened up a whole corridor. We've got to be prepared to greet (the advancing population) and make do with the best of them," to embrace the growth, but also capitalize on it.

"I guess it's basically human nature to think that way," Enos said. "If we don't do it, somebody else is going to do it."

Smith said the project needs to be unique and not compete with neighbors.

"We want to be very creative so that we can get as much use out of the land, but also keep it very close to the culture," Smith said.

Enos calls the growth pressures on the tribe "a headache, but it's a good one."

He says it is "sad" to see once-open land disappearing, but he sees economic opportunity.

"Diversifying is the key word," Enos told members of other tribes at a recent conference.

The tribe is far from unique in juggling a successful gambling enterprise, encroaching growth, development pressures and needs to diversify, all while trying to maintain cultural traditions and sacred sites.

Big decisions

The Salt River Pima-Maricopa and Gila River Indian communities in the metro area face similar challenges.

But Ak-Chin - because of its rural location roughly 38 miles south of downtown Phoenix, small size and farming lifestyle - exemplifies two things: how Phoenix growth is spreading and how tribes must respond.

Tribes have had to become business experts quickly, making decisions on multimillion-dollar investments that can tax small tribes with limited staff. But running gambling operations has honed their business skills, experts say.

"I think (tribes are) becoming increasingly sophisticated," said Miriam Jorgensen, associate director for research with the Native Nations Institute at the University of Arizona's Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy.

But development decisions are stressful as tribes weigh ramifications for their land, culture, people and economies.

In some cases, tribes have been able to use their new revenues to bolster their culture and language, said Joan Timeche, assistant director of the Native Nations Institute.

Gambling has been good for tribes, she said.

"Tribes are going to end up becoming major players in Arizona's economic future for years to come," Timeche said.

Harrah's sees potential

Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which has managed Ak-Chin's casino the past decade and has a five-year extension taking effect Jan. 1, will do whatever it can to help the tribe achieve its goals for the land, said Tom Cook, the casino's senior vice president and general manager.

"Having a different set of food and beverage options (from what is offered at the casino) we think certainly fits well, particularly given the growth of the Maricopa area, which doesn't have those things currently," Cook said. He sees a chance to help the tribe, Harrah's and surrounding residents.

Cook also would like more interesting entertainment options and he says a hotel expansion would offer benefits, too. Harrah's plans next year to add about 150 slot machines, which would generate higher occupancy for the hotel rooms, he said.

As of September, the casino had 796 gambling machines, six poker tables and 16 blackjack tables, according to the state Department of Gaming Web site.

Growth good, bad

Ak-Chin member Andrew Narcia, 37, knows the casino and growth have brought benefits, but he worries some of the tribe's heritage is eroding.

He sees more tribal members working in the casino and fewer on the farms that have been a tribal mainstay.

"A lot of us have forgotten our old ways, and a lot of us have become materialistic," Narcia said. "I still see a lot of alcohol abuse, drug abuse."

He acknowledges, though, that the tribe must diversify to tap the region's growth.

Community member White misses the once-open fields outside the reservation.

"Our little reservation's getting crowded in, that's for sure," she said. "I can't believe it. I wish my parents were still alive to see it, my grandparents especially."

She hopes the approaching growth doesn't bring related ills like crime, but instead bears fruit for members in the form of more homes and other benefits.

Chris Crum, a Mesa plumber, is working on many of the new homes within a few miles of the casino and will move into one soon to be closer to his work. The area's growth is "insane," he said while stopping last week for food at a Maricopa pizza and sandwich joint.

He'd like to see the tribe add more everyday conveniences for those living or working near the reservation, like fast-food restaurants, a small mall or theaters.

Lindsey Norte, 20, and her boyfriend just bought a home near Ak-Chin. She said she would favor tribal projects that could reduce her trips to Chandler and Phoenix. She would like a large home store and theaters, for example.

Studying to be a teacher, she sees opportunity in the growth reaching beyond her new housing tract.

"I don't mind it, because that's what we're expecting," Norte said.

Tribal planner Smith, who grew up on the reservation when times were quieter, says the area's change has been good, albeit astonishing.

"I saw the movement coming, but I didn't think it was going to jump over the Gila River Reservation to come out here," he said, now planning how the tribe will respond to onslaught.