At stake: Opponents say Wynn’s casino could derail the planned reconstruction of Charlestown’s Sullivan Square.
There’s never a dull moment when it comes to brawling over big development projects – one of our favorite blood sports here in Massachusetts.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has apparently opened up a new front in his battle to derail a Las Vegas tycoon’s plans to build a $1.7 billion super casino just over the city line in Everett.
Boston city agency chiefs are wading aggressively into the review of Steve Wynn’s massive gambling resort by state environmental regulators.
Brian Golden, head of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and four other department chiefs, are blasting Wynn’s massive project in comment letters to the state’s environmental secretary. Golden contends the giant casino will endanger more than $1.2 billion in projected development in and around Charlestown’s Sullivan Square, the fruit of a years-long planning process by city and neighborhood officials.
And the BRA chief even takes aim at the tinted glass of Wynn’s tower – better suited for a “desert environment” – and plans for a giant “Wynn” sign atop the tower.
The letters in the Wynn sign should be limited to 10 feet to “avoid visual clutter of the skyline,” Golden chides.
Making Their Case
As they seek to stop or simply delay Wynn’s efforts to round up the state permits he needs to begin construction, Boston officials are focusing much of their wrath on the impact the giant casino project would have on Charlestown.
The city’s transportation chief, Gina Fiandaca, contends the roadwork Wynn’s team has proposed won’t do anywhere near enough to prevent gridlock on Charlestown streets.
“Adding resort traffic to the proposed roadway system would cause significant peak hour congestions and system failures in Sullivan Square and along
Scott Van Voorhis
Rutherford Avenue,” writes Gina Fiandaca, commissioner of the Boston Transportation Department. “Consequently, the resort proposal is incompatible with the city’s plan for a more sustainable transportation system in Charlestown.”
The parks chief frets plans for new green space will be wrecked, while Boston’s environmental chief worries about potential fallout from plans to clean up the old chemical plant site on the Mystic River on which Wynn plans to build.
The city’s new “office of gaming accountability” fired off a predictably blistering tome as well.
“Wynn’s plan is inconsistent with and antithetical to the city’s planned use of its streets in Charlestown,” writes Anthony Gallagher.
But Golden, the city’s development chief, fights fire with fire, offering up what may be the most effective counter argument against Wynn’s casino.
Wynn successfully sold his casino proposal to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission with visions of thousands of new jobs and a mini development boom in battered Everett.
But Golden contends the casino will cancel out ambitious plans for thousands of jobs just a few miles away in Charlestown.
Golden sees Wynn’s plans – and all the casino traffic they would bring – overwhelming city plans to drain the traffic out of Sullivan Square and putting an end to its use as an urban freeway.
And that, in turn, would potentially short-circuit City Hall’s ambitious plans to redevelop Sullivan Square. That would mean the loss of up to 6.8 million square feet in new development and several hundred million dollars in construction activity.
At stake over the longer-term, new development in Sullivan Square – made possible by painstaking infrastructure improvements casino traffic threatens to unravel – are 10,031 new office jobs and 454 new jobs in new stores and restaurants.
The loss of all that development potential would also have costly implications for city coffers, with $28 million per year in future commercial and residential taxes also in the balance.
For his part, Wynn’s team offered detailed responses to the various issues raised, and Wynn “looks forward to working with the city of Boston on the long-term plan for Sullivan Square, including planned new open space facilities,” according to a letter submitted by a Wynn consultant.
Expect Delays Ahead
The all-out assault by the city’s development, environmental, parks and transportation chiefs, threatens to further delay the final approval of Wynn’s casino.
Wynn’s local development team is now moving closer to the final piece of its state review, applying for a Chapter 91 coastal building license.
The review process itself has been a traditionally rocky one for developers with big waterfront building plans.
State environmental officials say Wynn, if all goes well, could expect to get his Chapter 91 license by late October, potentially freeing him to start construction on his casino.
But that’s barring an appeal by Boston officials or others. That could thrust the case into state courts and chew up another year – in the best case scenario.
“It’s premature to say one way or another whether we would appeal, but that certainly is a possibility,” said Nicholas Martin, a spokesman for the BRA.
