Casino fight now a city issue

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court yesterday cleared the runway for casino development in Philadelphia by rejecting the last remaining appeal over who gets to build slots parlors in the city.

Still, the controversial Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia hasn't cleared the first stage of the city approval process.

The City Planning Commission yesterday said it needed more information before making a decision on the $560 million Foxwoods project in the Pennsport section of South Philadelphia. It voted to postpone a decision by at least 30 days.

The commission's decision came after the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Riverwalk Casino, which contended it had been unfairly denied a casino license.

Halfway through the 31/2-hour Planning Commission hearing, City Councilman Frank DiCicco, who has carried the torch of casino opponents, nearly conceded defeat.

"At the end of the day, when all of the cards have been played, we may have to live with this project," said DiCicco, who has sponsored a number of bills still pending before Council that would force Foxwoods and the city's other approved casino, SugarHouse in Fishtown, to build on different sites, farther from neighborhoods.

Such laws, if passed, are likely to be rejected by the Supreme Court, City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. has said. And the Supreme Court has borne him out.

DiCicco had just announced that Riverwalk - one of three losing bidders for licenses to conduct slot-machine gambling in the city - had lost its appeal of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board's licensing decisions.

"We've basically lost all the rounds [in court]," DiCicco told an audience of at least 200 people gathered at the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia for the Planning Commission hearing.

Those losses include a public referendum, scheduled for the May primary, that the Supreme Court blocked.

The referendum - approved unanimously by City Council - would have asked city voters whether casinos should be prohibited within 1,500 feet of a home, church or school.

The Supreme Court, by law, is directly assigned all cases related to casino-licensing and zoning. It had previously rejected four other appeals, one by City Council and three by neighborhood organizations.

"It's the last legal hurdle dealing with the board's decisions," Doug Harbach, spokesman for the Gaming Control Board, said of the Supreme Court decision on the Riverwalk suit.

Bill Miller, one of Riverwalk's principals, said, "We don't see it as the end of the road." He added that Riverwalk's attorneys would review the decision and determine what next steps, if any, should be taken.

SugarHouse welcomed the decision.

"We hope there will be no more delays in getting our zoning and that we can begin construction," SugarHouse spokesman Dan Fee said.

Foxwoods also wants to start building.

Foxwoods architect Donald H. Dissinger of EwingCole Inc. spoke at the Planning Commission hearing of a riverfront bike trail, with 150 public parking spaces, that would front the casino along the Delaware River and eventually link up with a greenway up and down the waterway.

Attorney Jeffrey Rotwitt said that Foxwoods' 20-acre project does not require state-owned riparian lands. Leasing or selling these lands, which would require approval by the state legislature, is perhaps the last piece of legal leverage that opponents have.

But opponents contended that Foxwoods would be building on state land. Mary Isaacson, chief of staff for State Rep. Michael H. O'Brien (D., Phila.), said O'Brien and fellow House member William F. Keller (D., Phila.) would consider court action to stop any construction.

"Until you come and meet with your co-owners . . . you're not going to be able to build," Isaacson told Foxwoods at the hearing.

Neighbors say their greatest concern is traffic on already backed-up portions of Delaware Avenue and Columbus Boulevard. Foxwoods consultants have argued that simple improvements such as coordinated traffic lights would begin to help, and that casino-funded intersection improvements would reduce traffic delays from current levels by a third.

But Matt Ruben, former president of the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association and a former City Council candidate, said the Planning Commission would be irresponsible if it didn't wait for a Council-funded traffic study that incorporates the effects of building both SugarHouse and Foxwoods on the riverfront.

Approval in the absence of such information would be "the most basic and egregious dereliction of duty of a planning commission," Ruben said.

Foxwoods needs the commission to recommend that Council create a Commercial Entertainment Zone on its site at 1499 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd., between Reed and Tasker Streets, north of Home Depot and Wal-Mart.

Foxwoods has sued the city in the state Supreme Court to issue all required approvals immediately. That case is pending.

See architects' renderings of Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia at http://go.philly.com/foxwoods

Read the Philadelphia City Planning Commission documents about the two casino proposals at http://go.philly.com/planning

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