Casino operator may bypass state
SugarHouse says a 1907 law lets it seek approval from city officials rather than state lawmakers.
The legal and governmental offensive to get Philadelphia's two unbuilt casinos up and running continued yesterday as SugarHouse Casino, Gov. Rendell, and the city law department said SugarHouse should be allowed to build on state-owned land along the Delaware River without the state's permission.
SugarHouse yesterday applied for a license from the city Commerce Department to build portions of its $550 million slot-machine parlor on state-owned river lands, rejecting the traditional route of seeking a lease or title from the state legislature.
SugarHouse did so because State Rep. Michael O'Brien and State Sen. Vincent Fumo, who would normally introduce such legislation because it involves their districts, have said they would not introduce such a bill without neighborhood approval.
As much as half of SugarHouse's parcel is river land owned by the state - SugarHouse executives have plainly stated that their project would be much less desirable without frontage on the Delaware.
SugarHouse attorney Stephen Cozen said a 1907 law allows it to obtain permission to build from the city Commerce Department, successor to the defunct Department of Wharves, Docks and Ferries. He produced a 1978 state attorney general opinion supporting it.
"Unless that law is repealed, the law still stands," Cozen said.
City solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr., whose boss, Mayor Street, has been the city's chief proponent of slot-machine gambling, said Cozen appeared to have a point.
"This appears at first blush to be fully authorized by state and city law," Diaz said.
Rendell, whose property-tax reduction plan is founded on $1 billion in projected slots revenue - with a fifth of it coming from Philadelphia - also chimed in.
"I support this application process, given the importance of gaming revenues from this facility to reducing city wage taxes and expanding the Pennsylvania Convention Center," Rendell said.
A public hearing was scheduled for Nov. 15 in Room 114 of the Convention Center, whose $700 million expansion is to be paid for with slots revenues.
Fumo's chief counsel, Christopher Craig, said SugarHouse had no path to secure riparian rights except through the legislature.
"SugarHouse made its decision to seek a gaming license on land that it did not own," Craig said. Until it acquires those rights through the legislature, he said, "SugarHouse will have to live with the consequences of its shortsighted decision."
O'Brien promised a legal fight in the U.S. Supreme Court, which he said has jurisdiction in disputes over state-owned riverbed rights. He also said Street, with two months left in office, should leave this issue to his successor.
"Pack your spring clothes," O'Brien said, "because we'll be in front of the Supreme Court in the spring."