PrintColumbus' top two elected leaders said yesterday that they don't want a casino in the Arena District, even though the location was set in a constitutional amendment approved this month by Ohio voters.
Mayor Michael B. Coleman said he remains opposed to the casino plan -- which Columbus and Franklin County voters rejected -- while City Council President Michael C. Mentel said he wants "to see dirt turned as soon as possible, but on a site that central Ohioans can support."
Both, however, said it should go somewhere other than the Arena District site specified in the amendment.
"This is a crown jewel," Coleman said in an interview with The Dispatch. "We want it to be a family district."
In a written statement, Mentel said there are better locations for a casino, although he didn't suggest any.
"The voters of Columbus and central Ohio clearly are concerned about having a casino in the Arena District," he said.
Bob Tenenbaum, a spokesman for Penn National Gaming Inc., which along with Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert would build the casinos approved by Ohio voters, said developers are willing to cooperate with local officials on a host of issues.
Locations, however, were detailed in the Nov. 3 ballot measure and are now part of the Ohio Constitution. The amendment authorizes casinos in four Ohio cities: Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo.
In his first public comments about casinos since Election Day, Coleman said he will seek as much control as possible over any casino built in Columbus. But he said it's unclear what say local officials will be allowed over a development approved statewide but rejected by voters locally.
"I believe the ball is in our court and should be in our court," said Coleman, who voted against the constitutional amendment and said he still opposes it.
But, he also said, "We have to follow the law, whatever that is."
Casino developers have said they are committed to working with local officials, but the amendment and their draft of proposed legislation to implement it say only that operations would be subject to local health and building codes.
The amendment would limit zoning rules that could stop casino development, and it would bar actions that "unduly burden" casinos. It doesn't define that term, however.
"It's probably one of those things, you know it when you see it," Tenenbaum said.
Casino developers have pledged to pay all costs for sewer and water hookups, road improvements and other work required to accommodate their developments, he said.
Gov. Ted Strickland said he would veto any legislation that undermines the ability of Columbus and other cities to regulate the projects.
Coleman and Mentel said they will ask City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr. for an opinion on Columbus' legal authority over casino development and operations. Pfeiffer has raised similar questions about what regulations are allowed by the state amendment.
At the Statehouse, meanwhile, central Ohio lawmakers introduced constitutional amendments this week that would give Franklin County residents final say over whether to allow a casino in the Arena District.
The identical proposals would require a three-fifths vote in the House and Senate and voter approval of another statewide ballot issue.
Mentel, who refused to say before the election how he planned to vote on the casino amendment, spoke favorably in his statement yesterday about the proposal.
"Our community needs the good-paying construction jobs this project would deliver," he said.
Dispatch reporter Jim Siegel contributed to this story.
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