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Resident threatens lawsuit as commissioners approve garage for casino – Fort Lauderdale Sun

January 20, 2011

After an hour-and-a-half-long presentation and question-and-answer period with architects, designers and planners about the expansion at the Seminole Casino Coconut Creek, the first words of opposition were offered by an attorney hired by one of the city’s residents.

The Coconut Creek City Commission approved on first reading five ordinances that move forward Seminole Tribe plans to construct a transportation and retail center next to its existing casino, the first part of an expansion of the entire complex into an entertainment destination that has been years in the making.

All five of the measures, which includes rezoning land to allow for new uses, the city giving up a utility right-of-way through the property and the rights to 40th Street, and the construction site plan itself, were unanimously approved by commissioners and will need to be voted on one more time before the Tribe can move forward with its plans.

Casino General Manager Steve Bonner thanked commissioners before the detailed presentation began, much of which dates back to 2005, when the idea of a hotel and larger casino first were brought up.

“We want to make sure that everyone here – both [the Commission] and the public – knows that we want to be a good neighbor,” Bonner said. “There’s not only a lot of time, but a lot of effort and a lot of compromise.”

In addition to repeating much of the information commissioners heard at last week’s public work session, the Tribe’s design team included details to satisfy legal requirements and changes to retention ponds and the garage’s elevator system that were brought up by the Commission.

“We’ve really worked to come up with an architecture and a style that blends in with the existing casino,” said architect Robert Dollar during his presentation of the construction and design of the parking garage. “[It will] become a real asset and precedent to the planned mainstreet development district.”

The Planned Mainstreet Development District, PMDD, which extends beyond the casino’s bounds to include most of the land bordered by State Road 7, Sample Road, Lyons Road and Wiles Road, as well as developments on the north side of Wiles Road, is the city’s design for a densely-packed urban center, said Sheila Rose, director of sustainable development for the city.

Alan Koslow, an attorney with Becker and Poliakoff, raised concerns about the casino expansion on behalf of Coconut Creek resident Marc Ripps, a shift manager at The Isle Casino in Pompano Beach, who did not speak to commissioners and could not be reached for comment.

“We have several points of law that have not been followed by the applicant,” Koslow said. “This is not about butterflies, this is not about elevators having glass – this is about the city’s future…You have to do what’s in the best interest of the residents, not the Seminoles.”

Koslow, as well as experts of traffic and development, presented the city with lists of laws and codes that had not been followed in the development of the casino expansion and outlined several of them in a presentation.

The creation and definition of codes in the Mainstreet district, as well as the phased expansion of the Seminole Casino, have been under development for much of the last decade, which Vice Mayor Lou Sarbone and commissioners Marilyn Gerber and Becky Tooley made reference to in their comments before the presentations.

In discussing her decision to vote yes on all five ordinances, Gerber said the fact that few residents showed up to last week’s meeting was a telling difference on the feeling of the casino expansion than the crowd that showed up when the Tribe first opened the gambling-based facility.

After the meeting, Koslow handed out flyers to the few people in the audience pointing out how close to Monarch High School the new and grown casino is – and that a public relations campaign was set to begin in the next several days to get the word out about what he said should be a big concern for parents and residents.

“This is only the first forum that Mr. Riggs is willing to seek redress in,” Koslow said. “We seek compliance with the law and compatibility [with the surrounding area]. We don’t seek to kill the project.”

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