Hard Rock casino host community agreement with West Springfield includes rotating payments to neighboring communities
By
on July 12, 2013
WEST SPRINGFIELD — The host community agreement between the city and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino New England to build an $800 million casino project here includes an annual payment to neighboring communities.
The agreement was signed on Thursday by Mayor Gregory Neffinger and Hard Rock Chairman James Allen.
(The full text of the host community agreement can be viewed at the end of this article)
Upon the casino's opening, the pact provides for creating a "Regional Partners Fund" to provide “the maximum economic development possible to neighboring communities in the region,” according to the summary of the agreement.
The fund will provide an annual payment equal to .75 percent of the project’s gross gambling receipts for capital improvement projects to benefit the region. The annual payment will rotate between West Springfield, Springfield, Agawam, Holyoke, Chicopee and Westfield.
“We want to be considered a regional destination resort,” Tim Maland, president of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino New England, said Friday
He said that is in keeping with what Hard Rock will put on its application for a casino license, which must be submitted to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission by Dec. 31. The commission is expected to decide which of three casino projects proposed for Western Massachusetts will be awarded the lone available license for the region by April 10. There are also proposals to build a casino in Palmer and another one in the South End of Springfield.
Maland said the .75 percent figure in a typical year should come out to about $3.4 million.
Mark Rivers, who negotiated the agreement on behalf of Hard Rock, said the Regional Partners Fund is not a requirement of the state.
“What we are trying to do is spur economic activity in the area and increase the economic footprint of the project,” Rivers said.
In addition to that payment, the host community agreement calls for Hard Rock to pay 1 percent of its gross gaming receipts a year to communities with which it negotiates a surrounding impact payment. That money is intended to mitigate any negative effects of the project in the surrounding communities.
Richard M. Theroux, chair of the Mayor’s Casino Advisory Committee in Agawam, noted that the state has required that casinos confer regional benefits. He said after voters in West Springfield determine whether they want a casino to be built in West Springfield, his committee will work with Hard Rock to negotiate an agreement for payments to alleviate any negative effects a casino in West Springfield would have on Agawam.
Chicopee Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette called the regional payment a step in the right direction.
However, Bissonnette said that Chicopee would really need about $3 million a year rather than a payment every six years to cover the costs of the effects on his community of things like increased traffic on the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse said he has not seen a copy of West Springfield’s agreement with Hard Rock and that it is too early to gauge the impact a casino would have on Holyoke.
“Cities like Holyoke need protection and compensation,” Morse said.
The agreement was signed on Thursday by Mayor Gregory Neffinger and Hard Rock Chairman James Allen.
(The full text of the host community agreement can be viewed at the end of this article)
Upon the casino's opening, the pact provides for creating a "Regional Partners Fund" to provide “the maximum economic development possible to neighboring communities in the region,” according to the summary of the agreement.
The fund will provide an annual payment equal to .75 percent of the project’s gross gambling receipts for capital improvement projects to benefit the region. The annual payment will rotate between West Springfield, Springfield, Agawam, Holyoke, Chicopee and Westfield.
“We want to be considered a regional destination resort,” Tim Maland, president of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino New England, said Friday
He said that is in keeping with what Hard Rock will put on its application for a casino license, which must be submitted to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission by Dec. 31. The commission is expected to decide which of three casino projects proposed for Western Massachusetts will be awarded the lone available license for the region by April 10. There are also proposals to build a casino in Palmer and another one in the South End of Springfield.
Maland said the .75 percent figure in a typical year should come out to about $3.4 million.
Mark Rivers, who negotiated the agreement on behalf of Hard Rock, said the Regional Partners Fund is not a requirement of the state.
“What we are trying to do is spur economic activity in the area and increase the economic footprint of the project,” Rivers said.
In addition to that payment, the host community agreement calls for Hard Rock to pay 1 percent of its gross gaming receipts a year to communities with which it negotiates a surrounding impact payment. That money is intended to mitigate any negative effects of the project in the surrounding communities.
Richard M. Theroux, chair of the Mayor’s Casino Advisory Committee in Agawam, noted that the state has required that casinos confer regional benefits. He said after voters in West Springfield determine whether they want a casino to be built in West Springfield, his committee will work with Hard Rock to negotiate an agreement for payments to alleviate any negative effects a casino in West Springfield would have on Agawam.
Chicopee Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette called the regional payment a step in the right direction.
However, Bissonnette said that Chicopee would really need about $3 million a year rather than a payment every six years to cover the costs of the effects on his community of things like increased traffic on the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse said he has not seen a copy of West Springfield’s agreement with Hard Rock and that it is too early to gauge the impact a casino would have on Holyoke.
“Cities like Holyoke need protection and compensation,” Morse said.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment