The Village of Garden City filed a petition and complaint to stop the proposed $5 billion Las Vegas Sands resort and casino.
The petition and complaint by the Village of Garden City was filed in State Supreme Court on Dec. 5 using Article 78, a New York State law that allows individuals to challenge the actions of New York State and local government agencies, officials, and sometimes private companies.
In a 5-4 vote by The Village’s Board of Trustees last month, with Mayor Mary Carter Flanagan casting the deciding vote, the village elected to move forward with the lawsuit.
Article 78 proceedings are handled by the New York State Supreme Court. The petition and complaint allege that the county bypassed the requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act in obtaining the 42-year lease for the proposed Sands casino.
The legislation requires all local, regional, and state government agencies to equally examine the environmental impacts along with the social and economic considerations for a certain project, according to the state website.
In addition, agencies are required to follow a multi-step decision process, which requires them to assess the environmental significance of all actions they have the power to approve.
If an action consists of multiple phases, sets of activities, or if separate agencies are involved, agencies are required by law to jointly consider these impacts during their review. Breaking up the review process into smaller components for an individual review contradicts the intent of the law and may result in legal action according to the state.
“The Village Board was very disappointed to learn that Nassau County and Las Vegas Sands bypassed requisite environmental review processes to fast track the proposed casino development,” Mayor Mary Carter Flanagan of the Village of Garden City said in a statement.
“While regulations can be onerous, they exist for a reason and that is to protect local residents from any adverse impact. We are confident that the courts will uphold our position,” she added.
The Village of Garden City is not the first to try and stop the proposed resort through legal action. Last May, the County Legislature voted to authorize a 99-year lease between the County and Sands.
The lease was subsequently challenged in a lawsuit brought by Hofstra University. The university alleged that the lease was authorized in violation of Nassau County Administrative Code, Open Meetings Law, and the State Environmental Quality Review Act.
In November last year, a state court annulled the lease, finding that the process had violated state law. After Nassau County appealed, the court ruled on Oct. 23 that Sands needed to be named as a party and the case was sent back to the Nassau County Supreme Court.
Following the decision and while the litigation between Hofstra University and Nassau County continued in the Appellate Division, Nassau County and Sands entered into a new 42-year lease for the area which was approved by the Legislature Aug. 5.
The 42-Year Lease is for an initial term of 27 years, followed by three five-year renewal options exercisable by Sands for a total of up to 42 years.
The Las Vegas Sands Corporation declined to comment about the ongoing litigation. However, in an interview done with Schneps Media Long Island before it was filed, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Public Affairs Michael Levoff contended that they have conducted an in-depth environmental review of the project.
“I would say from my perspective the vast majority of people are supportive of this project, they understand that we will be generating significant benefits for the Town of Hempstead, Nassau County and all of Long Island,” he said.
Levoff also touted the nearly 5,000 people that the expects to employ as well as a multibillion-dollar investment in this community that they say will come with the proposal.
“Beyond that they recognize that the tax revenue associated with this activity there will allow local governments to do things like holding the line on property taxes,” he added.
Las Vegas Sands submitted an environmental report prepared by engineering firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin to the Nassau County Legislature on Nov. 21.
Levoff touted the proposal, arguing that it reflects the corporation’s desire to give back to the community and be good corporate citizens.
“We’ve tried to be very inclusive from the very beginning here about how we have created this project. We formed a number of working groups made up of members of the community surrounding the project,” he said.
He went on to add that the report that was prepared and is for public review “now shows evidence that Sands is prepared to invest substantially to the tune of over $100 billion to address those concerns and mitigate potential impacts,”
The report includes more than $150 million in mitigation investments, as well as designs to enhance the region’s infrastructure, create thousands of jobs, and generate significant revenue for local governments, the MTA, and the surrounding community.
Levoff said that where citizens have raised concerns with the project, the corporation has “heard many of these concerns over the past two years and we have tried to address them proactively.”
Say No To The Casino Civic Association, a group of community members from across Nassau County who are united in opposition to the proposed Sands Casino at the current site of the Nassau Coliseum according to their website; supported the decision by the Garden City Trustees.
“Garden City Trustees filed documents in court that highlight multiple ways the county again skirted the law in order to secure a 42-year operating lease for LVS without completing the proper environmental review,” the group’s statement said.
“The 70 acres of land at the HUB belong to the taxpayers of Nassau County. Through a faulty process, the officials we elected to act in our best interests, handed the keys to the heart of our county to a predatory gambling company,” they added.
Earlier in the month officials, residents, and activists in support and opposition to the proposal voiced their opinions on it during a public hearing on Dec. 9 at the Nassau County Legislature. Members of the Sands corporation, Say No to the Casino, and the Garden City Trustees all attended.
