Some councilors and the developer working on Hard Rock International Hotel & Casino's $800 million plan to build a casino in West Springfield want a referendum on the project sooner rather than later.
WEST SPRINGFIELD – The Town Council Tuesday night voted unanimously to set Sept. 10 as the date for a referendum on Hard Rock Hotel & Casino New England’s proposal to build an $800 million casino project here.
In a 5-minute meeting the council approved the date for the vote on the referendum, which asks, "Shall the city of West Springfield permit the operation of a gaming establishment licensed by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to be located at, and in the vicinity of, the grounds of Eastern States Exposition on Memorial Avenue?"
Last week, six members of the Town Council used a special provision of the town charter to call a meeting for Tuesday for the board to vote to set a date . In doing that, they rejected an Aug. 5 special meeting set for that purpose by Town Council President Kathleen A. Bourque.
Town Councilor George R. Kelly, who initiated the special meeting set for Tuesday with Town Councilor John R. Sweeney, has said he wanted the council to vote on a date earlier to give residents lots of time to consider the proposal before voting on what he believes will be a Sept. 10 referendum. Hard Rock officials have requested a referendum on that date.
Kelly has said he sees no reason to delay the vote until August.
Bourque has said she set the Aug. 5 date to give the public plenty of notice of the council’s vote.
Tuesday’s special council meeting was set to start at 7 p.m.
Kelly said he, Sweeney and Town Councilors George D. Condon III, Bruce L. Gendron, Robert M. Mancini, and Angus M. Rushlow signed a form last week to call the Tuesday meeting.
Sweeney said Hard Rock officials wanted to have the council set a date earlier the one set by Bourque to give them more time to order signs advertising a Sept. 10 referendum vote.
Mark Rivers the developer working with Hard Rock and the Eastern States Exposition to put a casino on the exposition’s fairgrounds, has expressed appreciation that councilors want to set a referendum date sooner rather than later.
Rivers has said that he wants the maximum length of time to engage and educate voters about the project.
Hard Rock would like to construct a destination resort casino project on 38 acres on the Eastern States Exposition campus off Memorial Avenue. Plans include a 12-story hotel, a Hard Rock Cafe and a parking deck. Hard Rock has also taken out options to buy property along Circuit Avenue, which would be on of the egresses to the project, to use for additional parking.