The mayors applauded the regional approach taken by Paper City Development, which wants to build a gaming resort at Wyckoff Country Club,
SPRINGFIELD — The mayors of Chicopee, Westfield and Easthampton said Monday Paper City Development's plan to share revenue with neighboring communities from a casino it is proposing in Holyoke is a necessary regional approach to the gaming issue.
But the mayors said while Paper City Development is the only casino group that has discussed revenue sharing and other regional issues like traffic improvements with them, they stopped short of endorsing the Paper City Development plan.
Paper City Development, a limited liability company, wants to build a gaming resort at Wyckoff Country Club, which is along Interstate 91 and on the Mount Tom Range.
Entertainment venue owner Eric Suher has proposed a casino for Mountain Park in Holyoke, which he owns and also is on the Mount Tom Range.
Charles J. Petitti, of Newton, said he is proposing the nonprofit Good Samaritan Casino Hotel for a five-story building he owns at 195 Appleton St. in Holyoke's downtown.
Chicopee Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette, Westfield Mayor Daniel M. Knapik and Easthampton Mayor Michael A. Tautznik discussed casino issues in a meeting at The Republican arranged by Paper City Development partners Anthony Ravosa Jr. and Anthony L. Cignoli.
The plan would provide up to $10 million a year in additional revenue from casino profits to Holyoke and neighboring cities. That's on top of the additional state aid communities are scheduled to get from the 25 percent gross tax on gaming revenue in the casino law established last year, Cignoli and Ravosa said.
"The gaming license for this region is a regional aid. It doesn't belong to the developer, it doesn't belong to the community," Bissonnette said.
Traffic from a casino in Holyoke will affect people in Chicopee, Westfield and Easthampton with possibly additional congestion and the need for road repairs, Knapik said. That's in addition to hundreds of casino employees that will need places to live and schools for their children, he said.
Paper City Development has been talking to local officials for more than a year, the mayors said, but such consultation has been absent from other enterprises proposing casinos locally.
"They reached out to us and others in the area to say, 'What do you think would help?' " Knapik said. "With no disrespect to Springfield, I'm only hearing what's in it for Springfield."
Tautznik said such financial "mitigation" will be necessary to deal with problems. For example, Route 141 between Easthampton and Holyoke already gets jammed and thousands of casino visitors could worsen that, he said.
"This is the kind of proposal we think should be put forward by whichever developer gets the license," Tautznik said.
Bissonnette, Knapik and Tautznik, sitting at the same conference room table as Ravosa and Cignoli, said they weren't endorsing Paper City Development's casino proposal. But the three mayors said they appreciated being regularly consulted by Paper City Development over the past year and reiterated the group's "Holyoke Now Partnership for Regional Progress" is the right regional approach.
"We've had an ongoing dialogue with them," Ravosa said. "It's a voluntary revenue sharing plan."
The amount of revenue to each community is based on population and a marketing study of casino viability in this area done for Paper City Development, said Ravosa, who said the group has yet to decide when to release the study. The amount of revenue given to each community would depend on the casino's profits after payment of bills, he said.
Suher, a Holyoke native, said his history of investment and employing people in the area means he understands the need for a regional approach. Besides Mountain Park, he owns property in downtown Holyoke, as well as the Iron Horse Music Hall, Pearl Street nightclub and the Calvin Theatre, all in Northampton.
"Therefore, I have a vested interest in making sure the surrounding communities are at the table and involved. Holyoke is my home. I fully understand that the process has to work for everyone," Suher said.
Petitti said the revenue sharing from his plan would come in the form of at least 50 percent of profits going to local charities.
Petitti said his plan is to share as much of a casino's profits with charities as possible, despite skeptics' nonbelief.
"So far I haven't been able to find anybody that thinks we'll (actually) do that," Petitti said.
Petitti's plan might be stuck because he said it will be a $300 million capital investment and state law requires casino plans of at least $500 million.
The activity comes a week after Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse dropped a bombshell by announcing he had changed positions and would now consider casino plans for that city.
Paper City Development's plan had been in the works since 2010, Petitti's for about a year and Suher's since late summer or fall.
Morse ran for mayor partly on an anti-casino platform, but said Holyoke should try to influence its fate because it was unrealistic to think the city would be unaffected by such large gaming plans being proposed nearby.
In Springfield, MGM Resorts International is planning an $800 million South End casino while Penn National Gaming has put forth an $807 million casino plan in the North End of the downtown district, including properties owned by The Republican.
In Palmer, Mohegan Sun wants to build a $600 million casino across from the Massachusetts Turnpike exit 8 on Thorndike Street (Route 32).
