Seneca Supervisors ask Lago oppenents to stand down

The Seneca County Board of Supervisors, at a Special Meeting, December 29th passed the annexed Resolution in support of the Lago Casino project and calling for an end to further effort, to obstruct the project.The full resolution is below…CONTINUING SUPPORT RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE COUNTY OF SENECA, NEW YORK WITH RESPECT TO LAGO RESORT & CASINO, LLC IN THE TOWN OF TYRE, SENECA COUNTYRESOLUTION NO. 282-15, moved by Mr. Shipley, second by Mr. Davidson and adopted.WHEREAS, the New York State Legislature passed the Upstate New York Gaming Act in the Fall of 2013 (“2013 Gaming Act”) and by statewide voter referendum on November 5, 2013, the electorate approved a constitutional amendment to permit “Class 3”, or what is considered full casino gaming operations; andWHEREAS, the 2013 Gaming Act called for establishing “four destination resort casinos in upstate New York” through a competitive process whereby up to four (4) gaming licenses will be awarded in what was identified as Region 1 (Catskill Region – Colombia, Delaware, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Sullivan and Ulster Counties), Region 2 (Capital Region – Albany, Fulton, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie and Washington Counties), and Region 5 (Upstate Region – Broome, Seneca, Tioga, Tompkins Counties and portions of Chemung, Schuyler and Wayne east of State Route 14); andWHEREAS, on December 17, 2014, the Facility Location Board unanimously recommended that the Region 5 Gaming License be issued to the Lago Resort & Casino, LLC proposal to develop and operate a $425mm destination resort casino at the northeast intersection of NYS Route 414 and the New York State Thruway featuring a casino, hotel, spa, as well as dining and entertainment with 1,200 construction jobs and 1,800 permanent jobs with a $50 million annual payroll; andWHEREAS, on December 21, 2015 the Gaming Commission found that the Gaming Act had been complied with and awarded a gaming license to Lago Resort & Casino, LLC; andWHEREAS, the Fourth Department Appellate Division determined that the Town of Tyre needs to re-adopt their SEQRA findings to address what the court identified as a technical and procedural concern and since that time the Town of Tyre has taken the time to review anew the SEQRA process and issued a negative declaration; andWHEREAS, litigants challenging the Casino Project are funded by parties with interests outside of Seneca County (Finger Lakes Raceway owned by Delaware North out of Buffalo and the Oneida Nation/Turning Stone from Oneida County) and have no obligation to Seneca County or its residents andWHEREAS, Indian Gaming operations have enjoyed over 20 years without payments to state or local governments yet now voluntarily pay over $50,000,000 per year to counties east of Seneca County without benefit to Seneca County and are now pursuing retail and other developments that will negatively impact Seneca County; andWHEREAS, the Seneca County Board of Supervisors desires to show support for the Lago Resort & Casino LLC project, to encourage this development so as to provide job opportunities for residents of the County and to maximize revenue opportunities for the schools in the County; now, therefore, be itRESOLVED, that the Seneca County Board of Supervisors, through Resolution 49-14 and Resolutions 157-15 and 175-15 unanimously supported the Lago Resort & Casino and many Towns within the County of Seneca And the Seneca County Chamber all joined in their support and today we want to reaffirm our unwavering support for development of the Lago Resort & Casino in the Town of Tyre, Seneca County and call on the petitioners to stand down so development of Lago Resort & Casino can proceed without further delay – enough is enough; and be it furtherRESOLVED, we renew our call for a Gaming Corridor Marketing effort, bringing together those companies involved in gaming and those communities with their economy and tax base now relying or will be relying on gaming revenues, to find mutually beneficial ways to promote upstate tourism and upstate gaming from Albany to Buffalo, Chautauqua to Sullivan County and from the Counties of Broome and Tioga all the way to the Canadian border – it is time to stop spending money on lawsuits and to start turning efforts to marketing the great Upstate New York area.This resolution shall take effect immediately.