Boston seeks do-over on casino designs

 

Boston seeks do-over on casino designs
Monday, March 24, 2014

By:Jack Encarnacao

Boston wants the state’s environmental secretary to send Suffolk Downs back to the drawing board, arguing the engineering studies are based mainly on the jettisoned plan for a Caesars casino in East Boston — not the new Mohegan Sun site in Revere.

City Hall’s comment letters call on Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Richard K. Sullivan to compel the developers to generate a new impact report that reflects the Revere plan, after Mohegan relied on engineering that was done for the rejected Caesars Entertainment casino on the track’s Eastie side.

The city wants Sullivan to combine his review of the Revere casino and East Boston horse stable demolition projects — filed separately on the theory that the stable work is unrelated to the casino, effectively denying Boston that basis to claim host community status.

City lawyer Elizabeth Dello Russo calls Mohegan and Suffolk’s separated plans “inadequate and legally inappropriate,” citing regulations designed to prevent developers from segmenting projects to avoid environmental review thresholds.

“The secretary should require the re-filing of appropriate documentation to allow for the necessary public and agency comment as required in order to avoid, minimize and mitigate damage to the environment,” Dello Russo writes, arguing the plans are connected because Suffolk would be Mohegan’s landlord and share in casino profits.

Mohegan CEO Mitchell Etess countered in a statement, “Extensive research, community process and multiple studies clearly demonstrate that the project has no unmitigated measurable impacts. With that said we remain committed to working with the Commission and the City of Boston to answer any questions they may have as this project moves forward.”

Boston’s comment letters on the Mohegan plan also say:

• There was no alternative pitched to Boston for a Route 1A flyover road that was part of the Caesars casino plan in Eastie.

• There needs to be further discussion of “odor impacts” from manure in proposed new barns on Suffolk Downs’ Boston side, to include “maximum storage durations for each pile” and estimates of “maximum odor generation potential on a peak summer day, in odor units per second.”

•  City zoning relief would be required to allow for the “accessory keeping of animals” in the stables.

The city’s letters were delivered Friday, a day after Mayor Martin J. Walsh appeared before the state Gaming Commission to argue that Boston should be host to Mohegan’s casino and its license competitor, Wynn Resorts in Everett, in part because the properties are accessed by Hub roads and transit assets. The city delivered similar comments last month on the Wynn proposal, finding wide-ranging fault with traffic counts, proposed road improvements, and contamination cleanup plans.


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