Wynn Resorts’ proposal for a $1.7 billion casino in Everett won a crucial environmental permit from the state on Friday, clearing one of the biggest obstacles it faced and moving the Las Vegas company closer to getting a shovel into the ground.
The approval after more than two years of studying traffic and other issues adds new momentum to Wynn’s drive to open the state’s first resort casino by 2018.
Matthew Beaton, Governor Charlie Baker’s energy and environmental affairs secretary, initially delayed the project in April by opting not to grant approval immediately because of concerns about traffic and noise created by the casino. But Beaton’s approval under the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act on Friday indicates that the Baker administration is satisfied the major issues have been resolved. In his 27-page ruling, Beaton wrote that Wynn’s plan for traffic improvements in the area of Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood will be “effective to mitigate the project’s impacts on existing transportation infrastructure.”But while granting the permit, Beaton is requiring Wynn to participate in and help pay for a new transportation planning effort to address long-term traffic problems in and around Sullivan Square. The effort would be led by the state Department of Transportation. Continue reading it below Statement from Mayor Walsh The following is a statement from Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh on the state granting Wynn Resorts a crucial environmental permit.“I have concluded that the practical, rational, and effective approach to addressing broader region transportation impacts for this project is through enhanced transportation planning processes, not through the prism of this single project,” Beaton wrote.
Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn said in a statement that he was “gratified at this critical moment that we have moved much closer to the realization of creating a destination, grand hotel in Massachusetts.”
“The process has been meticulous and hard fought and undoubtedly will continue to be so,” Wynn said. “However, with the support of the Governor and his administration, the process was open and fair.”
Wynn still faces intense opposition from the City of Boston, which has pursued an aggressive legal strategy in its lawsuit against the state Gaming Commission to halt the casino planned as part of a 24-story curved glass tower overlooking the Mystic River. The cities of Somerville and Revere also have pending lawsuits against the commission over its approval of Wynn’s 3 million-square-foot project.
Boston officials assert that the Gaming Commission awarded the coveted Greater Boston casino license to Wynn over a rival proposal as a result of what they called a “corrupt” process. They want a judge to overturn the award of the license.
A court hearing on Boston’s lawsuit is scheduled for Sept. 22, when lawyers for the Gaming Commission are expected to ask a judge to dismiss the city’s claims.
The casino developer also needs a sign-off from Boston’s public improvement commission before the company can make upgrades to Sullivan Square to relieve traffic congestion that the casino is expected to generate.
In a statement released after the decision, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said, “We will continue to fight for the best interests and public safety of the people of Charlestown — where the effects of the proposed casino would be enormous.”
Walsh said Beaton’s decision could make it necessary to spend more than $175 million on improvements to Sullivan Square and Rutherford Avenue.
“I will work with the Baker administration . . . to ensure that adequate funding mechanisms are in place,” the statement said.
Two other related matters are pending: a request for a state permit allowing the casino to be built on waterfront property and an application for a building permit that requires approval from the Everett Planning Board.
But the environmental permit, after years of study of about 100,000 pages of documents, represents by far Wynn’s biggest victory since being awarded the license last September.
“I look forward to the hard work ahead and to seeing shovels in the ground,” said Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria.
When Beaton declined to issue the environmental permit in April, he objected to the MBTA’s premature $6 million sale to Wynn of 1.75 acres next to the casino and hotel complex property. Wynn wants that land to build a road on the site as the casino’s main access. Beaton said the land transfer violated state law because the MBTA sold the land before Beaton’s agency completed its review of the casino project.
Wynn and the MBTA later agreed to put the land and the money from that sale into escrow until Beaton’s review was complete.
Beaton also expressed concerns about the impact the casino would have on the Orange Line. As a result, Wynn agreed to contribute nearly $7.5 million over 15 years to Orange Line subsidies, to increase the frequency of the trains.
The potential traffic the casino would draw has been a huge sticking point. Attorney General Maura Healey, a Charlestown resident, had urged Beaton last week to not issue the certificate until a long-term solution for Sullivan Square and Rutherford Avenue can be crafted.
State transportation secretary Stephanie Pollack, in recommending the issuance of the permit, volunteered to oversee meetings to develop a long-term solution for traffic problems in the area, working with representatives of the cities of Boston, Everett, and Somerville.
Fred Salvucci, a former state transportation secretary who is representing Somerville in the Wynn case on a pro bono basis, said the casino has the potential to paralyze an already busy corridor during peak traffic hours — and the impact will be felt on Interstate 93, not just on the local roads.
“It’s a disaster for 93,” Salvucci said. “The traffic backs up onto 93 today [from Sullivan Square]. Add 1,700 cars [in one hour], what do you think happens? The thing will back up all the way to Leverett Circle. This is an interstate highway that’s going to be crippled.”
Salvucci also noted that Boston officials want to redesign Sullivan Square and Rutherford Avenue to make that part of Charlestown more pedestrian-friendly. “Wynn’s plan is blatantly inconsistent with the city’s plan,” Salvucci said.
Wynn plans to build the gambling complex, one that would include a 629-room hotel tower, on a 34-acre site off Route 99.
Wynn’s ambitious plans and its strong financial status at the time persuaded the Gaming Commission last year to award the Boston-area casino license to Wynn over a competing casino project that Mohegan Sun had proposed for Suffolk Downs on the Revere side of the horse track.
The current entrance to Wynn’s site — a contaminated property once home to a Monsanto chemical plant — grazes the Boston city line, which extends over the Mystic River there. But the MBTA property next door would allow Wynn to build its entire entrance in Everett, significantly reducing the authority that Boston officials would get over the permitting of the project.
The Gaming Commission has also awarded a license for a resort casino to MGM Resorts, which is planning to open its facility in Springfield in 2018, and a slots parlor license to Penn National Gaming. Penn National opened its slots parlor at the Plainridge race track in Plainville about two months ago.
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