Business & Tech

City Encourages Wynn To Engage in 'Robust Community Process' with Charlestown

Officials from Boston's transportation, environment and parks departments have submitted comments and concerns about early plans for the Everett casino.

In a series of letters submitted to the state this week, Boston officials are asking the proponents of Wynn LLC’s resort casino in Everett to submit more information about how the development would affect Boston—from increased MBTA usage to parking demands to higher traffic on city roadways.

“The city, with community input, believes that traffic and transportation are a priority. With that in mind, the city is applying the highest standards to the developer's transportation plans, and asks that the state do the same,” attorney Elizabeth Dello Russo wrote in a letter sharing the city’s thoughts on the extended environmental notification form that Wynn submitted in July. 

Dello Russo is executive director of the Host Community Advisory Committee, which was formed to review casino proposals in the Boston area.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Among the materials Boston officials want to see from the developer are: a study of how the proposed development would be compatible with the recently approved redesign of Sullivan square; plans for improvements to city roadways to accommodate increased traffic; a detailed look at how motor vehicles, pedestrians, bikes and boats might access the casino site; an analysis of how the MBTA would be utilized, or added to, for pubic access to the site; a comprehensive parking study; and a detailed plan for managing construction and usage of the site.

The city also wants to see more information about the environmental aspects of the project, according to Dello Russo’s letter.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

“As a leader in environmental sustainability and energy efficiency, the city is encouraged by the proponent’s plans to thoroughly clean up a brownfield site that carries with it a high likelihood of soil and particulate contamination. At the same time, the city has very high environmental standards,” she wrote.

Officials want to see a detailed site clean-up strategy, a thorough harbor plan, evaluation of the project’s impact on local and regional air quality, information about storm water management and preparedness for rising sea level and information addressing other environmental concerns.

Included with Dello Russo’s community letter are comments from various city agencies about the plan, including one from the Boston Transportation Department that raises doubts about the “viability of the project from a transportation perspective.”

In particular, the letter mentions the three-year-long community engagement process for the redesign of Rutherford Avenue and Sullivan Square, which was just completed in February, and notes that, “An changes to Boston streets proposed as traffic mitigation for the Wynn project would similarly be subject to a public participation process including meetings with the Charlestown residents and the Charlestown Neighborhood Council.”

“The traffic information provided in the EENF indicates that Saturday traffic volumes on Alford Street, which links the casino resort site with Sullivan Square and Rutherford Avenue, will increase from 25,000 vehicles per day to 46,096 vehicles per day”—more than six times the increases considered in the current design, according to the letter, which is signed by BTD Commissioner Thomas Tinlin.

A letter from Boston’s Chief of Environmental and Energy Brian Swett outlines 14 pages worth of questions and concerns, such as hazardous waste management, the impact on local wetlands and potential noise issues during and following construction.

This letter, too, encourages a public review process involving Charlestown.

“We encourage the proponent to engage in a robust community process with the Charlestown community, to present the project, answer questions and receive feedback,” Swett wrote. “There is a noticeable lack of reference to such meetings in the EENF and an absence of Charlestown representatives in the list of those who received a copy of the EENF.”

Also included with city comments on the Wynn proposal is a letter from Parks and Recreation Commissioner Toni Pollak, who recommends the proposal “be integrated into the planning and redevelopment processes currently underway for Ryan Park and Sullivan Square [in Charlestown].”

Pollak also requested details about how increased vehicle traffic might affect the air quality around city parks, among other issues.

Read all the City of Boston comments on the Wynn LLC environmental notification form in the PDF above, shared by Danielle Valle Fitzgerald of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services.

Read more:


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Charlestown