Community Boards Balk at NYC Effort to Fast-Track Casino Projects

City officials who proposed to bypass NYC’s local land-use review process for the winners of the ongoing casino bidding war may have thought they were increasing the odds that a casino will land in one of the five boroughs, but they’re facing some unexpectedly stiff opposition: local community boards.

Developers have joined forces with some of the world’s leading gaming companies to ante up $1B bids for the most lucrative economic development project on the horizon: one of the three casino licenses that will be awarded by the state in the NYC metro area.

Five casino bids target Midtown Manhattan, including sites in Times Square, Hudson Yards and a waterfront site next to the United Nations. Five other bids also involve locations within the city limits, including next to Citi Field in Queens and on Coney Island in Brooklyn.

Several bids for casinos have been entered for locations outside of the city but within the metro area, including a proposal involving a “racino” in Yonkers that has slot machines at the horse racing track.

The Adams administration believes that bypassing the city’s time-consuming zoning approval process is crucial to obtaining state approval for casino projects within the city limits. The Department of City Planning has proposed to exempt casino projects from the land-use review process, known as ULURP.

The proposed zoning text amendments would allow new state licenses for gaming facilities in certain commercial and manufacturing districts, deeming any casino approved by the state for those areas to be in compliance with local zoning, permission that extends to hotels, restaurants and amenities at the sites.

Planning Commissioner Dan Garodnick said in November that the state’s public review process for casino bids makes NYC’s ULURP review redundant. Garodnick said amending the zoning law to bypass NYC’s review process is needed to “create a level playing field” for casino bids for sites that located are within NYC’s city limits.

The state is appointing its own Community Advisory Committees, which will be holding public hearings to assess public support for each of the casino bids.

Manhattan Community Board 6, which represents Midtown East, last week became the third local board in the borough to reject the Department of Planning’s proposal. Community Board 6 voted 39-1 to oppose the zoning bypass, according to a report in The City.

Midtown East includes a riverfront site next to the United Nations where the Soloviev Group has proposed to build a casino as part of a development on First Avenue between 38th and 41st streets that will include more than 1,300 apartments and a Ferris wheel that would be taller than the UN.

Manhattan Community Board 4, which includes the site of a proposed casino in Hudson Yards, also has voted to oppose City Planning’s proposal. Also opposing the measure is Community Board 5, which includes Time Square, site of another casino bid, the report said.

Opposition to the zoning bypass isn’t limited to Manhattan: a majority of the members of Brooklyn Community Board 13, which represents Coney Island, also oppose the proposal, The City reported.

After all of the local boards weigh in, the fate of the Planning Commission proposal will be determined by the City Council.