SENNETT - Two teenage sisters stood quaking in the cold at an exit of the Sennett town building.
Jennifer Meyers / The Citizen
Chief Paul Spicer of the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma presents plans for a proposed casino resort for Route 34 during the Sennett Town Board meeting Tuesday.
Chief Paul Spicer of the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma presents plans for a proposed casino resort for Route 34 during the Sennett Town Board meeting Tuesday.
They each held a swiftly-prepared handwritten sign. A larger cardboard sign with orange lettering was propped at their feet:
“No Casino.”
Jacquie Phillips, 17, and Carolyn Phillips, 14, protested a proposed multi-million dollar casino and entertainment complex, which was presented by the Seneca-Cayuga tribe of Oklahoma Tuesday night at the Sennett town meeting. The complex would be built on Route 34 in the town.
The Phillips sisters - along with Jacquie's boyfriend, Brandon Stewart, 17, and their brother, Zach, 15 - had decided just an hour before the Sennett town meeting to demonstrate against the project. After listening to Tuesday's proposal, the four remain opposed to this kind of project for largely rural Cayuga County.
“We do want big movie theaters here. We want shops. We want bowling alleys,” said Jacquie Phillips, a resident of Center Street Road. “We don't want a casino where families are destroyed by gambling. We don't want alcohol from the (Finger Lakes) vineyards. It's not that type of community. It's not a city and it's not going to turn into one.”
The proposed casino and resort would sit three miles north of the Auburn-Sennett line on a 400-acre parcel that would touch Route 34 on the western edge and Weedsport-Sennett Road to the east. The main entrance would sit across from High Bridge Road. The facility would have the look of the architecture of Adirondack lodges.
Paul Spicer, who was elected chief of the Seneca-Cayugas last summer, promised that his tribe would act as any other responsible business by paying taxes on most of the parcel. The exception will be the gaming part of the project that must be taken into trust by the federal government and gain sovereign status because of the state's constitutional prohibition on gaming.
“I know a lot of times an enterprise asks for concessions,” Spicer said. “We're not asking for concessions. We're asking for a partnership.”
The Seneca-Cayugas' willingness to pay taxes was attractive to many attendees.
“How many groups are talking about fronting taxes right at the beginning?” said Tom Gray, the Sennett town historian, who attended the meeting with his son.
“I liked the idea. I liked the economic benefits. I liked that they're willing to pay taxes,” said Bill Rizzieri, of Sennett, and a technology teacher at Auburn High School. Rizzieri cited the importance of bringing new jobs to the area with the impending loss of the Bombardier plant.
“I thought it was very positive .... It's a big shot in the arm for the economy around here,” said John Schillace, an Auburn city firefighter who owns property in both Auburn and Sennett. “I have four young boys and I'd like to keep them in the area.”
“We intend to be good citizens, parties, negotiators,” Spicer said. “We intend to pay for our fair share.”
Upstate Citizens for Equality Cayuga-Seneca Chair Richard Tallcot passed out flyers to audience attendees questioning if taxes will be adjusted should the Route 34 parcel increase in worth with development; if the tribe will relinquish all rights to putting additional lands in trust; and if enough water can be supplied to the project without affecting water pressure for fire control and expansion of water and sewer lines to other users.
Spicer told the Sennett Town Board during the 25-minute presentation that he is attracted to placing the project in Cayuga County because he finds similarities between the county and the tribe's base in Miami, Okla. Miami is the county seat of northeastern Ottawa county, which has a population of 33,000.
Both areas have lost jobs he said with declining manufacturing bases where a casino and entertainment complex is a means to keep younger people in the area.
Over the last few years, the tribe has shifted its sights from a casino in Aurelius, to Sennett, to Sullivan County in the Catskills and then to Ulster County.
While a casino in the Catskills might have been more lucrative, Spicer said, “as far as I'm concerned this is where our roots are.”
Spicer hopes to work with Cayuga Community College to develop educational programs that would train workers in the technical skills they would need to work in the complex. He also hopes to capitalize on tourism to the area because of the Finger Lakes wineries.
A Seneca-Cayuga complex would go head to head with the Oneida Indian Nation's Turning Stone casino in Verona and win, Spicer said.
The difference would be his tribe will be more accessible and friendlier, he added.
The expansive project includes plans for a golf course, movie theater, an entertainment center, meeting center and, of course, the casino, “to draw more people into the area not just for gaming but for a more multi-use facility,” said Juris Basens, the vice president of gaming operations at Wilmorite Properties Inc, the Rochester real estate company that has been retained as the developer for the project and would run it in its first few years if it were built.
“In my 36 years in the real estate industry, it's one of the more exciting projects I've had a chance to present to a community,” said Thomas Wilmot Sr., the president of Wilmorite.
In addition to Wilmot and Basens, two other Wilmorite executives and Bruce Boncke, a professional engineer for the project's architects, BME Associates of Fairport, attended the meeting.
The Wilmorite executives expect the city of Auburn's sewer and water system would be able to handle the facility's need for 250,000 gallons of water and sewage disposal per day. They also expect current traffic levels on Route 34 to be able to handle increased traffic due to the complex.
No questions were allowed from the audience of dozens, but at least one public hearing will be scheduled for the future, Sennett Town Supervisor David Sikora said.
Town council members Jerrold Eades, Susan Foster and Sylvia Wilson said they will meet with Sikora to brainstorm questions based on the information they received and forward it to Spicer and Wilmorite. Sennett Town Council member Kenneth Champlin did not attend the meeting.
Other public officials who attended included Auburn Mayor Tim Lattimore, Auburn City Councilor William Graney and Cayuga County Legislator Peter Tortorici.
“This is an overwhelming project,” Sikora said. “... This is a first step in 3,000 mile journey. You coming here starts the first step.”
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
“No Casino.”
Jacquie Phillips, 17, and Carolyn Phillips, 14, protested a proposed multi-million dollar casino and entertainment complex, which was presented by the Seneca-Cayuga tribe of Oklahoma Tuesday night at the Sennett town meeting. The complex would be built on Route 34 in the town.
The Phillips sisters - along with Jacquie's boyfriend, Brandon Stewart, 17, and their brother, Zach, 15 - had decided just an hour before the Sennett town meeting to demonstrate against the project. After listening to Tuesday's proposal, the four remain opposed to this kind of project for largely rural Cayuga County.
“We do want big movie theaters here. We want shops. We want bowling alleys,” said Jacquie Phillips, a resident of Center Street Road. “We don't want a casino where families are destroyed by gambling. We don't want alcohol from the (Finger Lakes) vineyards. It's not that type of community. It's not a city and it's not going to turn into one.”
The proposed casino and resort would sit three miles north of the Auburn-Sennett line on a 400-acre parcel that would touch Route 34 on the western edge and Weedsport-Sennett Road to the east. The main entrance would sit across from High Bridge Road. The facility would have the look of the architecture of Adirondack lodges.
Paul Spicer, who was elected chief of the Seneca-Cayugas last summer, promised that his tribe would act as any other responsible business by paying taxes on most of the parcel. The exception will be the gaming part of the project that must be taken into trust by the federal government and gain sovereign status because of the state's constitutional prohibition on gaming.
“I know a lot of times an enterprise asks for concessions,” Spicer said. “We're not asking for concessions. We're asking for a partnership.”
The Seneca-Cayugas' willingness to pay taxes was attractive to many attendees.
“How many groups are talking about fronting taxes right at the beginning?” said Tom Gray, the Sennett town historian, who attended the meeting with his son.
“I liked the idea. I liked the economic benefits. I liked that they're willing to pay taxes,” said Bill Rizzieri, of Sennett, and a technology teacher at Auburn High School. Rizzieri cited the importance of bringing new jobs to the area with the impending loss of the Bombardier plant.
“I thought it was very positive .... It's a big shot in the arm for the economy around here,” said John Schillace, an Auburn city firefighter who owns property in both Auburn and Sennett. “I have four young boys and I'd like to keep them in the area.”
“We intend to be good citizens, parties, negotiators,” Spicer said. “We intend to pay for our fair share.”
Upstate Citizens for Equality Cayuga-Seneca Chair Richard Tallcot passed out flyers to audience attendees questioning if taxes will be adjusted should the Route 34 parcel increase in worth with development; if the tribe will relinquish all rights to putting additional lands in trust; and if enough water can be supplied to the project without affecting water pressure for fire control and expansion of water and sewer lines to other users.
Spicer told the Sennett Town Board during the 25-minute presentation that he is attracted to placing the project in Cayuga County because he finds similarities between the county and the tribe's base in Miami, Okla. Miami is the county seat of northeastern Ottawa county, which has a population of 33,000.
Both areas have lost jobs he said with declining manufacturing bases where a casino and entertainment complex is a means to keep younger people in the area.
Over the last few years, the tribe has shifted its sights from a casino in Aurelius, to Sennett, to Sullivan County in the Catskills and then to Ulster County.
While a casino in the Catskills might have been more lucrative, Spicer said, “as far as I'm concerned this is where our roots are.”
Spicer hopes to work with Cayuga Community College to develop educational programs that would train workers in the technical skills they would need to work in the complex. He also hopes to capitalize on tourism to the area because of the Finger Lakes wineries.
A Seneca-Cayuga complex would go head to head with the Oneida Indian Nation's Turning Stone casino in Verona and win, Spicer said.
The difference would be his tribe will be more accessible and friendlier, he added.
The expansive project includes plans for a golf course, movie theater, an entertainment center, meeting center and, of course, the casino, “to draw more people into the area not just for gaming but for a more multi-use facility,” said Juris Basens, the vice president of gaming operations at Wilmorite Properties Inc, the Rochester real estate company that has been retained as the developer for the project and would run it in its first few years if it were built.
“In my 36 years in the real estate industry, it's one of the more exciting projects I've had a chance to present to a community,” said Thomas Wilmot Sr., the president of Wilmorite.
In addition to Wilmot and Basens, two other Wilmorite executives and Bruce Boncke, a professional engineer for the project's architects, BME Associates of Fairport, attended the meeting.
The Wilmorite executives expect the city of Auburn's sewer and water system would be able to handle the facility's need for 250,000 gallons of water and sewage disposal per day. They also expect current traffic levels on Route 34 to be able to handle increased traffic due to the complex.
No questions were allowed from the audience of dozens, but at least one public hearing will be scheduled for the future, Sennett Town Supervisor David Sikora said.
Town council members Jerrold Eades, Susan Foster and Sylvia Wilson said they will meet with Sikora to brainstorm questions based on the information they received and forward it to Spicer and Wilmorite. Sennett Town Council member Kenneth Champlin did not attend the meeting.
Other public officials who attended included Auburn Mayor Tim Lattimore, Auburn City Councilor William Graney and Cayuga County Legislator Peter Tortorici.
“This is an overwhelming project,” Sikora said. “... This is a first step in 3,000 mile journey. You coming here starts the first step.”
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
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