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Legislators sue City over casino land grab
By Ed Goppelt
Wednesday, 12/26/07
(1198691496830)
A group of state legislators sued today to overturn a decision by the City of Philadelphia to give SugarHouse Casino permission to build on 12 acres of state-owned riverfront land. The suit was filed by two state senators and five state representatives representing the Philadelphia neighborhoods adjoining the Delaware River.
State Reps. Mike O'Brien, Bill Keller and John Taylor argued that it is the state legislature and not the Administration of Mayor John Street that should decide how state-owned riverfront land will be used and by whom. The waterfront reps announced the suit at a press conference this morning held in the offices of one of their lawyers, Catherine Recker.
State Senator Vince Fumo was expected at the press conference, but did not attend because of a personal issue. Fumo's Chief Counsel attorney Christopher Craig helped draft the law suit, which will be heard by the state Supreme Court.
"This is not about casinos as much as it is about the city trying to usurp state authority," wrote Fumo in a press release. "The city's decision, if allowed to stand, would deprive commonwealth taxpayers of money that is rightfully theirs, and would deprive the General Assembly of its right to set terms and conditions for use of its waterfront property." According to the suit 52% of SugarHouse's proposed casino lies on state-owned land.
In addition to today's law suit, Fumo and O'Brien are using legislation to regain control over state-owned riverfront land. Fumo added language to this effect in mid-December to two of O'Brien's bills (House Bills 1621 and 1627) leasing state-owned riverfront land to local condo projects. In addition, Fumo's amendments require recipients of riverfront land to pay part of their rent to help implement the Central Delaware Master Plan developed by PennPraxis. In the case of the two condo projects, O'Brien expects the planning effort to receive around $650,000 per year. PennPraxis director Harris Steinberg did not return a call asking for comment on this funding windfall for his organization's work.
When asked if he had been in contact with incoming Mayor Michael Nutter, State Rep. Mike O'Brien responded that he had and that while he was not authorized to speak for Nutter, he believed Nutter would be amenable to reversing the licensing decisions made by Mayor Street.
Construction of the SugarHouse casino has been stalled since March of this year. City Council hasn't enacted the required zoning and state legislators have refused the casino necessary riparian land legislation, citing the lack of resident support for the project.
In a bid to begin construction on their project, SugarHouse's lawyers argued in late October that a 100 year old law empowered the City to give SugarHouse permission to build its casino on top of state-owned lands in the riverbed. After holding a contentious public hearing, the City Commerce Dept. granted SugarHouse's permission to build into the river, issuing a so-called submerged lands license on November 27, 2007.
Referring to SugarHouse's license to build on riverfront land, a reporter told O'Brien "This is almost a futile process to begin with." "That's correct," said O'Brien. "It is a desperate action by desperate men."
The reporter speculated that Mayor Nutter could simply wait for the license to expire and then not to renew it. He suggested that it would take SugarHouse at least six months to get the various state permits it needs and pointed out that the license will expire in six months if construction has not begun.
City Council will file its own law suit tomorrow, December 27, 2007 challenging the City's decision to grant state-owned land to SugarHouse according to Council's lawyer Jim Christie.
The other waterfront legislators who filed suit include state Sen. Mike Stack, state Rep. Mike McGeehan and state Rep. Robert Donatucci.