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After City Inaction, Philadelphia Casino Construction Approved By Court

Posted by: Nate Berg

5 December 2007 - 7:00am

Calling out the Philadelphia City Council for "deliberate inaction" on a casino developer's zoning requests, the state Supreme Court has overstepped the city authority to approve the casino's construction.

"The Pennsylvania Supreme Court went over Philadelphia's head yesterday and cleared the way for construction to begin on the $550 million SugarHouse casino in Fishtown and Northern Liberties."

"Finding 'deliberate inaction' in City Council's longstanding failure to vote on SugarHouse's zoning and land-use requests, the court took it upon itself to issue the go-ahead."

"The 6-1 decision also is likely to hasten the groundbreaking for the Foxwoods casino in Pennsport. Like SugarHouse, Foxwoods has been pushing for Council approval."

"The city 'ultimately has no discretion to preclude gaming,' the court's opinion stated. 'We conclude that the undisputed documentation establishes the deliberate inaction by Council for the purposes of delay.'"

Full Story: Court clears way for casino
Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 4, 2007
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