Dueling over an environmental permit crucial for the planned Wynn Everett casino, the city of Somerville and an international casino company are now scheduled to face off June 2.
The city, headed up by anti-casino Mayor Joe Curtatone, has gone to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in a bid to invalidate the license needed to build a gleaming hotel and gambling hall on the polluted banks of the Mystic River.
Because of the city’s appeal, Wynn, whose properties stretch from Las Vegas to Macau, canceled job fairs and was required to halt cleanup work on the site, a 33-acre area once home to a Monsanto chemical plant.
Somerville argued the project’s 85-year waterfront development license exceeds the usual 30-year term and the public amenities included are not on scale with the scope of the development.
The June 2 date for hearing from witnesses was set when the two parties gathered at state offices in Boston’s Downtown Crossing on Thursday.
“The city’s contention is due diligence on this project has yet to occur,” Frank Wright, city solicitor, told reporters in a statement after Thursday’s hearing. Wright said the appeal is one of “five pending legal actions” and said Wynn should provide a detailed plan of the ferry service it says it will provide.
Curtatone was on the losing side of the 2014 attempt to repeal the state’s casino law. Boston this year resolved its legal dispute with Wynn, which revolved in large part around the traffic impacts on nearby Sullivan Square.
In late February Gov. Charlie Baker said he hopes for a quick resolution to the dispute between Somerville and Wynn and indicated the two parties could convene.
“They’re going to sit down … and hopefully work through some of the issues,” Baker said. Asked if he was concerned about the state foregoing casino revenues, Baker said, “To be honest with you, I’m a lot more concerned right now about the 4,000 people who are planning to go to work on that job, which is why I hope this [DEP] process can move as expeditiously as possible.”
