Krafts keeping mum on casino plan

Are there more back room deals and promises made by Governor "Slot Barns" ?

Bob Kraft and Donald Trump anyone?


Krafts keeping mum on casino plan
BY FRANK MORTIMER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF

FOXBORO - Twice this week, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and his staff declined to say whether there's a gambling casino tucked into the Kraft Group's big-picture development plan for Route 1.

The Sun Chronicle this week asked a Kraft spokesman the following question:

"Can the Kraft Group say definitively that there will not be a casino on what is now Kraft-owned property, and that the Kraft Group will take no steps in the future to enable a casino on Route 1 in Foxboro?"

Spokesman Jeff Cournoyer responded, in part: "We have never spoken in absolutes like that about any of our businesses. What we have said many times is that the property has been shovel ready for development for several years and we have spent considerable time, energy and financial resources trying to pursue a major commercial development that would facilitate job creation and incremental tax revenue for the Commonwealth and the Town of Foxboro."

The newspaper invited a definitive response to the casino matter on Monday, the day a Boston Globe website story called Kraft personally "evasive" on the possibility of a casino being developed on what is now team-owned parking across Route 1 from Gillette Stadium. "I don't want to not say anything. I don't want to say anything," the Globe quoted Kraft's response when a reporter repeatedly asked his views on a casino on his property.

With engineering assistance from the Kraft Group, the town recently applied for an $8 million MassWorks Infrastructure Grant to build a footbridge over Route 1, linking the Patriot Place and stadium complex to the parcels Kraft has targeted for development of an office complex and convention center.

National Football League rules prohibit teams from ownership in gambling enterprises.

But asked by The Sun Chronicle in September if the jumpstarting of the footbridge project signals Kraft Group interest in selling some of its land for a casino, Cournoyer said no.

"We have no plans to sell the land, as control of those parcels is crucial to ensuring a positive event day experience for our patrons. Owning that land and managing the traffic flow from it is a critical element of our event day operation."

Concerns about how the Kraft Group will develop those parking lands bordering Walpole and Norfolk on the west side of Route 1 have intensified - especially among Walpole residents - as the company moves forward with several rezoning requests for a future town meeting. Last week, Kraft Group attorney John Twohig presented the planning board with a revised version of bylaw proposals related to wind turbines and building heights.

Twohig on Aug. 25 first gave the board a 15-page packet of potential zoning bylaw amendments related to renewable energy and economic growth, which would include high-tech office facilities.

One of those bylaw proposals - reportedly contained in Twohig's submission at Paicos' request - would modify "entertainment facilities" to include resort, conference and hotel uses, including expanded gambling, such as a casino.

Amid intense debate in the town over the gambling issue, neither the planning board nor board of selectmen supported placing the casino rezoning article on the Dec. 5 town meeting warrant.

None of the Kraft Group's Route 1 rezoning articles, which are still under review of town boards, will appear on the Dec. 5 warrant.

But selectmen - or residents through a petition - could place the casino question before the annual town meeting in May or some future town meeting.

Meanwhile, the Kraft Group is keeping its focus on its masterplan for Route 1 development.

"We will continue to seek high-quality, large-scale development options that will generate thousands of jobs for this region. I can add that we won't pursue any development without town approval," Cournoyer said this week. "We also aren't going to pursue anything that isn't first class. The Kraft Group's vision for our property has always been to create a first-class destination, which I believe we have done with the construction of Gillette Stadium and the further development of Patriot Place, including Bass Pro Shops, Cinema de Lux and the Brigham and Women's/Mass General Health Care Center."