Pa. Supreme Court gets casino zoning case

: by Meg Bernhardt, Evening Sun Reporter on 12/01/2006
An Adams County judge sent an appeal of a casino zoning decision to the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in a court order Wednesday.
The appeal challenges the Straban Township Zoning Hearing Board's unanimous
decision in October to permit a slots casino, resort and spa in the
commercial highway zoning district at the intersection of route 15 and route 30.
Nine Straban Township residents who opposed to the project - Crossroads
Gaming Resort and Spa - filed the appeal in Adams County court last week,
but Judge Michael George ruled Wednesday the court doesn't have jurisdiction
due to a clause in casino law that says all appeals will be filed with the
state's highest court.
"They filed it in the wrong place," said Crossroads spokesman David La
Torre. "We made a request to have it sent to state Supreme Court. (If we
hadn't done that they) probably would have had a useless hearing at the
county level that would have further wasted Straban taxpayer dollars because
of No Casino Gettysburg filing in the wrong place."
No Casino Gettysburg's lawyer, who filed the appeal on behalf of nine
individual Straban residents, referred questions to chairwoman Susan Star Paddock. She said they believed at the time the appeal had been filed in the
right place, but are OK with it moving courts now.
Legislation legalizing gambling in Pennsylvania gave exclusive appellate
jurisdiction to the Supreme Court to consider appeals of local zoning
decisions to make sure the projects can be completed in a timely fashion.
Locally, the Straban board's decision was reached after six hearings and
ultimately allowed the project with 10 conditions, including traffic
improvements, landscaping and a berm and fence between the township's
recreation park and the casino.
The appeal asks the court to overturn Straban's decision, based on 11
different arguments.
Straban Township Zoning Hearing Board Solicitor Clayton Wilcox did not
return a call seeking comment Thursday afternoon.
Crossroads has already received preliminary planning approval from the
township, and it's still waiting on its most important approval - the
awarding of a gambling license from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
The decision for those licenses is expected to be made Dec. 20.
La Torre has criticized the appeal as "needless." La Torre said Crossroads
is confident the decision will withstand any further scrutiny and will be
upheld.
But Paddock hopes the appeal will be successful. She said she's happy the
appeal is moving out of Adams County, where emotions have run high since the
project was proposed in April 2005.
And she believes the opposition has a good case because of problems with the
traffic study Crossroads prepared for the board.
"We feel (the appeal) was very important because the traffic issues were
completely unresolved," Paddock said. "And all that happened in Straban
Township is the township and hearing board listened to Crossroads say we'll
do whatever is necessary. But they don't have any adequate safeguards
regarding traffic."
No Casino Gettysburg is funding the costs of filing the appeal. It had
originally tried to testify in the zoning hearing, but the board ruled the
opposition group does not have standing.
Individual members of the group came forward instead and nine individuals
filed the appeal through No Casino lawyer, Andrew Giorgione, of the
Harrisburg law firm Klett, Rooney, Lieber and Shorling.
For casino opponents, the main problem with the board's decision is the
potential for traffic on backroads around the casino, Paddock said.
During the hearings, the board expressed disappointment about the parameters
of Crossroads' traffic study, calling it weak. But the township traffic
engineer McMahon Associates Inc. had agreed to that scope, so the board
members said they were obligated to go along with it.
As a condition of the zoning approval, Crossroads agreed to conduct traffic
counts after the project was completely built and fix any problems caused by
a discrepancy with its traffic study.
Crossroads has not filed any appeal to the board's decision or conditions.
===THE LAW:===
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is vested with exclusive appellate
jurisdiction to consider appeals of a final order, determination or decision
of a political subdivision or local instrumentality involving zoning, usage,
layout, construction or occupancy, including location, size, bulk and use of
a licensed facility. The court, as appropriate, may appoint a master to hear
an appeal under this section. This rule does not apply to some government
appeals.
category:news coverage