The battle against the casino will be taken before the courts, as the Village of Westbury, Town of Hempstead, Town of North Hempstead, Meadowbrook Pointe Civic Association and several residents announced their plan to file for a temporary restraining order to prevent Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting from moving into the Fortunoff building.
“We think there is a legal basis for doing that, and that OTB is not following the law,” said Village of Westbury mayor Peter Cavallaro at a press conference at Village Hall Thursday, Jan. 29.
(Photo by Ray Muntz)
“Bringing it to the courtroom is a necessary step,” said Town of North Hempstead councilwoman Viviana Russell. “We will continue this fight as long as it takes to let OTB know they can’t infringe on residents.”
Tomorrow, the groups will go to Nassau County Supreme Court in Mineola to make the application for the temporary restraining order, which would bar the OTB from entering an agreement to buy or lease the Fortunoff building for a video lottery terminal facility. Officials didn’t go into details of the lawsuit but did say a large part of their case was a Town of Hempstead Building Zone Ordinance stating that no OTB facility shall be located within 500 feet of any residence.
“Our first obligation is to our residents, and they are of one voice-that Fortunoff is a totally inappropriate site to place a VLT,” said Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray.
The Town of Hempstead did not have an exact number of residences within 500 feet of the site. However, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth did note that there were 995 Town of Hemsptead homes within half a mile of the site.
In response to the suit, Nassau OTB says that they are in full compliance with state law.
“Nassau Regional Off Track Betting operates in accordance with New York State Law, which we believe supersedes any local determination. Nassau Regional Off Track Betting has every expectation that this matter will be adjudicated in favor of our position, which is in full compliance with New York State Law,” said Nassau OTB in a statement.
With OTB set to sign a contract by the end of the week, the stakes have been raised to stop them as soon as possible. Local officials, community groups and residents are committed to doing whatever it takes to stop them from moving forward with their plans to transform the facility into a VLT.
“OTB has said we’ll sign a lease and then see what studies need to be done. But our feeling is once that lease is signed, it becomes that much harder. It’s troubling to think they’d be entering a lease agreement,” said Bosworth. “We will continue to fight until this proposal is defeated.”
Carle Place’s John Viscusi heads up the Stop The Casino At Fortunoff group and is one of five residents filing the petition. He says that there has been a lot of anger in the community at OTB’s disregard for the community’s concerns.
“Unfortunately, it has to come to this because OTB doesn’t seem to get the fact that we have an overwhelming opposition to this,” Viscusi said. “By taking it to a higher level, maybe they’ll get the message.”
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