State Attorney General Maura Healey on Friday urged the state’s top environmental official to deny a crucial permit for the construction of a $1.7 billion casino in Everett, at least until the developer provides what she called “a long-term traffic solution” for the area.
“If the casino is built without a a long-term plan in place,” Healey wrote, “we may never solve the traffic problem.”
Last month, Healey publicized her position that the environmental permit should not be issued for the casino planned by Wynn Resorts. In a letter to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, Healey said that the state should first conduct an independent traffic study.Healey’s 15-page letter Friday to state Environmental Secretary Matthew Beaton, who is scheduled to decide whether to issue the permit on Aug. 28, focuses on traffic in Charlestown’s Sullivan Square, a long-overmatched interchange of several major roadways.Healey said Wynn, MassDOT, the city of Boston, and the city of Somerville should agree on a traffic solution before a permit is issued. Sullivan Square is located near an elevated section of Interstate 93, close to the city lines of Somerville and Everett. The letter became public on Friday, the deadline for comments to be submitted to Beaton’s office on Wynn’s permit application. Beaton’s office has received hundreds of comments from private citizens, as well as technical comments from governmental entities.Last year, Wynn won a state license to develop a casino, but he still lacks the permits necessary to break ground on what is planned to be the 24-floor, curved glass tower on a long-vacant 33-acre parcel on the Everett waterfront. The Wynn casino is expected to generate 4,000 permanent jobs, 4,000 union construction jobs, and tens of millions of dollars in new revenue for the state. It would be built less than a mile from Sullivan Square.Wynn has said he would spend $10 million for short-term traffic improvements in Sullivan Square before the casino’s opening, which is now scheduled for 2018, plus $25 million for a long-term fix. Wynn has also agreed to spend another $20 million if traffic around the casino exceeds his current traffic projections.Wynn, reacting to Healey, said in a statement on Friday that the environmental process “requires that we mitigate our traffic impacts, not solve decades-long traffic issues which pre-date our project. We expect the fair treatment afforded any other developer.” Healey urged Beaton to encourage an agreement among “stakeholders” that takes into account “years of planning” begun long before Wynn arrived on the scene. She said any long-term plan should also be “compatible with the city of Boston’s redevelopment plans for that area.”Last week, top officials from Boston and the state transportation department met to discuss ways to alleviate traffic in Sullivan Square. That meeting marked the first time the city of Boston, which opposes the casino, relented from its earlier flat refusal to participate in such meetings.“It is essential that you ensure that this process continues,” Healey wrote. “Several parties have suggested that professional facilitation or mediation might be appropriate to help reconcile competing visions for the long-term improvement plan.”As a candidate for attorney general last year, Healey, who lives in Charlestown, expressed opposition to casinos and supported a referendum question to repeal the state casino law. (Voters statewide backed the casino law by an overwhelming margin.) Under an aggressive legal strategy led by Mayor Martin J. Walsh, Boston has filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of the license awarded to Wynn by the state Gaming Commission.The lawsuit asserts that the commission made a major mistake in denying the residents of Charlestown the right to vote on whether to accept the casino because it is the neighborhood that would be most affected by increased traffic.In its own letter to Beaton, the city of Boston called Wynn’s traffic plan “inadequate on its face” and inconsistent with the city’s plans for Charlestown in calling for denial of the permit.Sean P. Murphy can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Follow him on Twitter @spmurphyboston.| < Prev | Next > |
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