Draft Foxwoods Casino Impact Assessment
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Draft Foxwoods Casino Impact Assessment Funding provided by a grant from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission November 2013 Prepared by: Metropolitan Area Planning Council 60 Temple Place, 6th Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02111 Tel (617) 451-2770 www.mapc.org Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission 2 Washington Square, Union Station, 2nd Floor Worcester, MA 01604 Tel (508) 756.7717 www.cmrpc.org Funded by: Massachusetts Gaming Commission 84 State Street 10th Floor Boston, MA 02109 www.massgaming.com Contact: John S. Ziemba, Ombudsman Telephone: 617-979-8423 Email: [email protected] Prepared by: ii Acknowledgements This document was written and produced with the professional, technical, and policy resources provided by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council: Marc Draisen, Executive Director; Joel Barrera, Deputy Director; Martin Pillsbury, Environmental Planning Director; Mark Racicot, Land Use Planning Director; Christopher Ryan, Senior Land Use Planner and Project Coordinator; Eric Bourassa, Transportation Director; Alison Felix, AICP, Transportation Planner; Jennifer R. García, General Counsel; Jennifer M. Raitt, Assistant Director of Land Use Planning and Chief Housing Planner; Cynthia Wall, Senior Regional Planner; Charlie Ticotsky, Government Affairs Specialist; Barry Keppard, AICP; Public Health Manager; Holly St. Clair, AICP, Data Services Director; Tim Reardon, Assistant Director of Data Services; Bill Wang, GIS Analyst; Armin Akhavan, Research Analyst; Tanya Paglia, Regional Planner; and by the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission: Larry Adams, Executive Director; Vera Kolias, Principal Planner; Mary Ellen Blunt, Transportation Program Manager; Sujatha Mohanakrishnan, Project Manager; Trish Settles, Principal Planner; and Rich Rydant, Project Manager. Also we wish to acknowledge the analysis and content provided by the consulting firms of Larry Koff & Associates (with Community Opportunities Group, Inc and Jeffrey Donahoe & Associates); Community Opportunities Group, Inc.; and Municipal Resources, Inc. A special thanks is extended to the public officials from all of the member communities who attended a number of meetings and provided a significant amount of feedback. Finally we wish to acknowledge the participation of the applicant, Crossroads Development, LLC and their consulting team including TetraTech, Inc., GMA, Inc, and CBT, Inc. This project was undertaken with funds from a grant awarded by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Metropolitan Area Planning Council Officers President, Michelle Ciccolo, Town of Hudson Vice President, Lynn Duncan, City of Salem Secretary, Marilyn Contreas, Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Treasurer, Taber Keally, Town of Milton Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission Executive Committee Chairperson, Howard Drobner, Town of Boylston Vice Chairperson, Philip Joinville, Town of Auburn Clerk, Timothy H. Wheeler, Town of Berlin Assistant Clerk, Terrance A. Cummings, Town of Oxford Treasurer, Otto Lies, Town of Holden Assistant Treasurer, Bruce Davis, Town of Sutton iii iv Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Introduction and Background ..................................................................................................................... 25 3. Process ........................................................................................................................................................ 31 4. Transportation Impacts ............................................................................................................................... 35 5. Housing Impacts .......................................................................................................................................... 49 6. Fiscal and Economic Impacts ..................................................................................................................... 51 7. Water Resources: Water supply, Wastewater, Stormwater ..................................................................... 79 8. Zoning and Regulatory .............................................................................................................................. 111 9. Open Space ............................................................................................................................................... 131 10. Development Impacts ............................................................................................................................... 137 11. Social Impacts ........................................................................................................................................... 153 12. Public Safety Impacts ................................................................................................................................ 159 13. Summary and Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 177 Appendices (A through M) .......................................................................................................................... A-1 v vi Chapter 1: Executive Summary 1.1 Introduction and Overview This report is the culmination of a concentrated effort to evaluate the potential impacts of the development and operations of a resort casino in the Town of Milford, Massachusetts by Crossroads Massachusetts, LLC (Foxwoods Resort Casino). The process involved evaluating information issued by the applicant, conducting other research, and performing independent analyses. This Executive Summary summarizes the project background and the process employed by the Regional Planning Agencies (RPAs), outlines the conclusions and recommendations, and provides a contact for more information. For a complete introduction and overview of the project, please see Chapter 2. 1.2 Process The RPAs entered into a contract with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) to provide services to communities that might reasonably be deemed Surrounding Communities within the definitions of the enabling legislation for expanded gaming in the Commonwealth, MGL________. Our job was to assess potential impacts from the development and to recommend ways to minimize or mitigate negative impacts, and to do so within the framework established by the enabling legislation and regulations issued pursuant thereto. The contract included a Scope of Services that outlined the criteria the RPAs would use to assess impacts and a process that included the following tasks: 1.3.1 Hold a public information session for local officials. 1.3.2 Review and develop recommendations on the following topics: Transportation Housing1 Fiscal and Economic Impacts2 Water Resources Zoning and Regulatory Issues Open Space Development Impacts Social Impacts Public Safety Impacts3 1.3.3 Facilitate three (3) Work Group meetings with local officials where each of the topics was 1 Via consulting contract with Communities Opportunities Group, Inc. 2 Via consulting contract with Larry Koff & Associates, Community Opportunities Group, Inc. and Jeffrey Donahoe and Associates. 3 Peer review of staff analysis and recommendations by Municipal Resources, Inc. 1 discussed. 1.3.4 Distribute comments from staff and communities to the applicant team for response. 1.3.5 Meet or otherwise communicate with communities to determine full scope of concerns and issues, 1.3.6 Develop a draft report circulated to communities and applicant for comments. 1.3.7 Develop a final report with recommendations and a formal presentation of findings. For a complete discussion of the process followed for the project, please see Chapter 3 1.3 Recommendations and Mitigation Summary This section provides a brief conclusion and a list of the recommendations and potential mitigation for each topic area. It is not intended to provide a full discussion of the analysis and a complete narrative of conclusions. For this level of detail, please refer to the specific technical review chapter for that topic in chapters 4-13. 1.4.1 Transportation Impacts (Chapter 4) The RPAs have analyzed the applicant’s proposed site design and traffic improvements, trip generation and distribution modeling, and related transportation assumptions. We have specifically identified four primary areas of concern: 1) I-495 future build capacity, 2) the need for a separate employee trip analysis, 3) modeling assumptions whereby an additional comparable facility needs to be added, and 4) further mitigation and evaluation for local roadway impacts where the potential for diversions and cut-through traffic are highest. If the applicant addresses these concerns and a mitigation program is developed for the surrounding communities, the potential impacts of the facility may be reduced, particularly the concern of congestion on the local roadway network. Specific recommendations are as follows: 1.4.1.1 Capacity Analysis of I-495 The construction of the I-495 C-D road and new Route 16 interchange is expected to carry upwards of 90% of patron trips to the casino site, likely limiting traffic impacts on local roads. However, a capacity analysis of I-495 is warranted to determine if future development and the resulting traffic growth will increase highway congestion and divert trips to local roads. 1.4.1.2 Employee Trip Analysis The applicant should provide an analysis