Milford Selectmen Vote 2-1 to Direct Attorneys to Finalize Casino Agreement

Milford Selectmen on Monday are expected to vote to approve a host community agreement for Foxwoods Massachusetts, following a 2-1 preliminary vote Wednesday that directed attorneys to finalize the plan for a vote Monday.

If the board votes Monday to approve the 130-page community agreement, it will set in motion a town-wide vote on the $1 billion development by the end of November.

Selectmen Brian Murray and Dino DeBartolomeis voted to move the process forward Wednesday, a day after they received a draft host community agreement with exhibits that reflected several days of negotiations between Foxwoods Massachusetts and the town's attorneys. In their comments, Murray and DeBartolomeis said it was a good package for the town, with protections for neighbors closest to the casino development, and should go to voters.

Under the deal, Foxwoods will pay Milford $30 million in up-front payments for community development, as well as at least another $25 million in real estate taxes every year after it opens. Additional payments will go to town departments that will add staff and equipment, including police and fire. A $2.5 million fund will be created to help homeowners near the site if they lose value on homes.

Murray said his responsibility was to negotiate the strongest possible deal for the town, and then put it before voters. "Now you have a choice," he said. "Do you want to take advantage of this economic opportunity?"

DeBartolomeis emphasized the 3,000 permanent jobs that would be created, and said many of the townspeople are unemployed or have family members who need jobs. "In my opinion, I feel this is a good thing for the town of Milford," he said.

The town will do what it can to make sure Milford residents are considered first, he said. The language states that the developer will make a best effort to hire locally, but the local region is defined as a 50-mile radius surrounding the downtown.

Voting against the motion was Selectman Bill Buckley, the current board chairman. He noted that he hadn't had an opportunity to thoroughly review the document with attached exhibits, which he and other members received Tuesday night. "There was just no way I was able to get through that document," Buckley said.

What he saw, he said, still needed work.

He criticized, in particular, the size of the proposed $2.5 million fund for affected homeowners. More than 600 home are in the area designated by the document as being potentially affected by the construction and or development. These homeowners could qualify for mitigation money if they sell their property at less than the assessed value, based on the comparable sales for homes in other parts of Milford.

The amount for the homeowner fund is insufficient, Buckley said, and he described the section relating to the promise of local preference in jobs as "weak."

The selectmen's vote came after several department heads, including the police and fire chiefs, said they were satisfied with the negotiated agreement. In addition, numerous consultants who reviewed the casino project for the town confirmed that the changes made in recent days by the developer, although they increased the size of the casino, did not increase the impacts on things such as traffic, because the consultants had already considered the full buildout of the casino, or the previous Phase II, in their projections.