The field of competitors for up to three new casino licenses that New York State officials expect to award by year’s end appeared to shrink this week after the New York City Council rejected zoning changes essential to one applicant’s proposal.
The Council, following a tradition of abiding by local members’ wishes on land-use matters, voted overwhelmingly on Monday against the rezoning, which the gambling company Bally’s would have needed to proceed with its plans for a casino in the East Bronx.
The vote was an example of the sway individual council members hold over development in their districts under what is known as “member deference,” an unofficial veto power that critics say has, among other things, worsened the city’s housing shortage.
With Bally’s now apparently out of the running, the number of applicants vying for the potentially lucrative licenses to operate full-fledged casinos in and around the city has most likely been winnowed to seven.
The five remaining city-based contenders — one in Queens, another in Brooklyn and three in Manhattan — have either secured the zoning changes they need from the Council or have proposed plans that would not require site-specific changes. (Existing “racinos” — horse-racing tracks with slot machines — in Yonkers and Queens have also applied for the licenses.)
The 28-9 vote against the rezoning for the Bally’s project came on a motion by Kristy Marmorato, the councilwoman who represents the area where the casino would be built and who, in a news release after the vote, characterized it as “predatory development.”
“If I make a promise to my community, I follow through,” Ms. Marmorato, a Republican, said in a statement, adding that her opposition to the Bally’s plan was based on discussions with “residents, colleagues and stakeholders” who would be directly affected by the project.
Soo Kim, the Bally’s chairman, said in an interview that he was “still processing” the implications of the Council’s vote but that the prospects for the company’s proposal were “not looking good.”
Mr. Kim said he was “surprised and disappointed” by what he called the Council’s willingness to reject the benefits that a $4 billion economic development project would deliver to the city’s poorest borough. He said he believed Bally’s had met all of Ms. Marmorato’s “asks” with regard to what the community stood to gain, and he questioned whether she had negotiated with the company “in good faith.”
Mayor Eric Adams, through a spokesman, expressed dismay over the Council’s decision. The City Charter gives him five days from the time of the vote to exercise his veto power, with a two-thirds vote of the Council needed to override a veto.
The spokesman, William Fowler, said in a statement that the administration was “reviewing its options in response to this vote.”
“The City Council’s disapproval of this Bronx bid pits boroughs against one another and leaves the Bronx unable to even have a shot at benefiting from the potential of new jobs and new investment in their community,” Mr. Fowler said.
Mara Davis, a Council spokeswoman, sought to distinguish the body’s decisions on casinos from those it makes related to housing.
“Council members have their own individual perspectives on the value of potential casinos in New York City, which contributed to their votes on whether to support or oppose this land-use application,” Ms. Davis said in a statement.
She added, “Decisions on other land-use proposals, such as for housing development that was not part of this application, carry a different set of considerations.”
The Council’s vote followed a defeat by a similarly large margin for the proposed zoning changes by the local community board in March, at what The Bronx Times reported was a “raucous and chaotic” public meeting where residents expressed worries about the potential for increased crime and traffic associated with the casino and rejected Mr. Kim’s reassurances.
Under its proposal, Bally’s planned to build a 500-room hotel and a 500,000-square-foot casino on 16 acres of parking lots and practice greens adjacent to a golf course built by the city on reclaimed landfill in the Throgs Neck section. The zoning changes were necessary because the company was seeking to develop what is designated as city parkland.
The Trump Organization operated the course, then called the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, until 2023, when it sold its interest to Bally’s for $60 million. The deal’s terms called for Bally’s to pay the Trump Organization an additional $115 million if it obtained a license to operate a casino on the property.
A spokeswoman for the Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment.
Michael Benedetto, a Democratic state assemblyman whose district includes the property where the casino would be built, was pleased when Bally’s took over the Ferry Point course and shed the Trump name.
On Tuesday, Mr. Benedetto said he was “embarrassed” by the Council’s decision, which he labeled “terrible.”
“Why would they deprive the Bronx of this project?” he said.
Ed Shanahan is a rewrite reporter and editor covering breaking news and general assignments on the Metro desk.
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