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Saturday, April 23, 2011

Penn National Renegs

The Gambling Industry spent buckets of money in Ohio finally gaining voter approval of legislation crafted by the Industry to ensure they gained everything their cold hearts desired at the expense of taxpayers.

Hollow public promises were offered and experience has shown this is just the beginning.

Casino's sewer zoning disputed
'Dispatch' company says certificate shouldn't be issued
By Doug Caruso

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The county shouldn't issue the zoning certificate because Penn National can't show that it has sewer service for the casino, an attorney for the subsidiary wrote in objection. That's a violation of the county's health and plumbing codes, the objection says.

The company has received state permits to begin construction of the foundation and a parking garage. But unless the county issues a zoning certificate, either the county or an adjacent property owner can go to court to stop construction, said Steven Tigges, the attorney who filed the objection.

Attorneys for Penn National said in their application for the zoning certificate that the Ohio Constitution says that zoning issues can't be used to stop casinos. The constitutional amendment that allowed for four Ohio casinos does, however, allow communities to enforce health and building codes. [In poorly crafted legislation written by the Industry, for the Industry and solely for the benefit of the Industry, local control was surrendered and taxpayers will absorb the costs to subsidize this lucrative venture.]


A Penn National attorney said in a letter accompanying the zoning application that Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien had told the company that Franklin County would issue a conditional zoning certificate, "and the condition would be that Penn would need to demonstrate a final source of sewer and water prior to the certificate of occupancy."

Tigges said in his objection letter that the law requires Penn to demonstrate that it has sewer service now. But it can't do that because "Columbus and the casino are at an impasse on sewer service. And in view of their deadlocked positions, it is presently impossible for the casino to connect to the only sewer system available to it."

"The Dispatch Printing Company has taken a number of actions since the May 2010 election to make sure that all of us honor our promises to the electorate from that campaign," said Michael F. Curtin, associate publisher emeritus. "Once it became apparent to us several months after the election that Penn National might start to renege on the promises we jointly made to the electorate, we decided to take several steps to make sure Penn National could not sidestep its obligations to the community."

Penn officials said they wanted breaks on taxes and utility rates to offset the cost of changing sites as a condition for annexing.

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