Casinos to Nutter: No dice

Mayor Nutter's call for a local design group to study plans for two riverfront casinos drew protests from the developers yesterday, with one threatening to take its complaints - again - to the state Supreme Court for relief.

Nutter, speaking Thursday night at the unveiling of the PennPraxis 10-year plan to rejuvenate the Delaware riverfront, asked the group to conduct an "honest, legitimate, third-party analysis" of the casino plans for SugarHouse in Fishtown and Foxwoods in South Philly.

PennPraxis director Harris Steinberg has said that the casinos don't fit into his group's vision of the riverfront. He derided them before Nutter spoke as "essentially large, windowless boxes" and the "antithesis" of the vision.

Foxwoods spokeswoman Maureen Garrity yesterday said that Nutter's call for an honest and legitimate study was confusing since Steinberg's opinions are clear.

"The Supreme Court has been very clear: The city cannot determine casino sites," Garrity said. "The court has also been clear in its mandate to the city that it must comply with the law and allow our project to move forward."

The court in April ruled that City Council used delaying tactics to keep Foxwoods from being built and ordered the city to immediately approve zoning changes needed for the project. The court issued a similar ruling for SugarHouse in December.

But Garrity said that the City Planning Commission this month rejected Foxwoods' zoning permit application, which is needed before building permits and other city approvals are issued. Garrity said that the commission, which had 45 days to act on the application, waited until the 44th day to reject it as incomplete. She disagreed that the application was incomplete or lacking information.

"Foxwoods has attempted to work with this administration and to adhere to the law," Garrity said. "Still, the city refuses to comply with the Supreme Court's order and continues to engage in a pattern of delay, leaving us few options but to return to the court for relief."

Terry Gillen, a senior adviser to Nutter on casino issues, said the city was not trying to obstruct the projects.

"We're certainly abiding by the law," she said. "We're just being very careful. They're just used to having things fast-tracked."

Former-Mayor Street's administration last year was eager to have the casinos opened quickly. Both casino plans were approved last year by the City Planning Commission.

Garrity and Leigh Whitaker, a SugarHouse spokeswoman, also took issue with Steinberg's description of the casino plans.

"We fully intend to move forward with our project, which includes landscaped areas, waterfront access and biking and walking trails, on our site on South Columbus Boulevard," Garrity said.

Whitaker said that SugarHouse will also have biking and walking trails, along with windows looking out on the river and outdoor restaurants and lounges.

"We intend to build our casino as designed and approved by the Planning Commission," Whitaker said. "In any case, PennPraxis can't possibly undertake an objective review of our plan when they have already said that casinos don't fit into their vision." *