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BY SCOTT STIFFLER| Snake eyes or jackpot? We’re weeks away from knowing if a multi-tiered City vetting process deals a winning hand to a $13 Billion development project–and just over a month away from the formation of a committee that could beef up the plan’s prospects or lead its all-important cash cow to slaughter.

For months, the Related Companies and Wynn Resorts partnership has campaigned to amend City zoning text. Aa currently written, it would prohibit the gaming aspects of a $13 Billion+ development that would put affordable and market-rate housing, office and open space, and a resort replete with casino atop and around Chelsea’s long-dormant Western Rail Yards (WRY).

The Zoning text amendment effort was first considered by Manhattan Community Board 4 (MCB4), which gave it a frosty reception. Said MCB4 District Manager Jesse Bodine of the full board’s January 26, 2025 unanimous vote (save 1 present-not-eligible), “I can say during my ten years on the board, we have not done a “deny” only for any DCP land use application [until this one].”

The matter then moved to Manhattan Borough President (MBP) Mark Levine. Citing a voluminous influx of constituent concerns about air quality, construction noise, shadows cast by new structures, and insufficient affordable housing, MBP Levine’s Valentine’s Day 2025 Recommendation showed little love for the project as is–but left the door open pending compromise and consensus. “These issues are resolvable,” he wrote, “and for the sake of future generations we need to find a viable solution for this empty lot.”

The zoning text amendment application then received approval from NYC’S City Planning Commission (CPC)–a fact Related/Wynn happily referenced in a press release. Quoting from a presentation made during a meeting held two days prior to its April 9 vote, the press release noted CPC’s declaration that the project “will create a dynamic, vibrant and valuable series of buildings and public areas” as well as its assessment of new green space as an “invaluable amenity.” 

The matter is now before the NYC Council–whose decisive vote, subject only to rarely invoked mayoral override, is expected in June if not sooner. Influential in that vote is District 3 Council Member Erik Bottcher, whose coverage area includes Chelsea’s WRY.

Text amendment results aside, the project’s casino plan will be forced to fold unless it acquires a gaming license. For the application to be considered by New York State’s Gaming Facility Location Board, it must secure two-thirds approval from a Community Advisory Committee (CAC). Six electeds–NYS Governor Kathy Hochul, NYC Mayor Eric Adams, NYS Assemblymember Tony Simone, NYS Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, and NYC Council Member Erik Bottcher–will appoint one person each. Noted a NYS Gsming rep in a May 2, 2025 email to Chelsea Community News (CCNews), “By law, the elected official is the appointing authority for their CAC member. However, there is nothing in the law that prevents a CAC appointing authority from naming themselves to their CAC. “

With CACs set to form immediately after June 27, 2025’s gaming license application deadline, CCNews reached out, repeatedly, to the six electeds regarding where they stand on the notion of a WRY casino and who their CAC appointee will be. Only one responded. In a May 13 email to CCNews, a City Hall spokesperson noted that NYC Mayor Eric Adams “supports a fair, competitive process to open a new casino in New York City, which would bring good-paying union jobs and an economic boost to the community. It does not matter to him which proposal is selected by the state so long as the casino is in New York City. Any [CAC] appointments will be announced at the appropriate time.”

Other appointing authorities have gone on record, some going back to before any actual proposals had been revealed. At a September 28, 2023 Town Hall (covered by CCNews here), its host, NYS Assemblymember Tony Simone, said, “Very few constituents want to see it,” further noting, “I am personally opposed to a casino on the West Side.”

At that same Town Hall, Council Member Bottcher said he’d be “surprised” if, ultimately, “any [casinos] get approved.” Flash forward to Wednesday, May 7, 2025: At a Council District 3 Candidate Forum on Preservation, Andrew Berman, Executive Director of event presenter Village Preservation, asked,  “What is your position on the proposed casino plan for the Western Hudson Rail Yards?”

Recalling how “the community came out and expressed a broad opposition to this proposal” at an April 29 City Council Subcommittee on Zoning & Franchises meeting (its first to take up the matter), Council Member Bottcher said, “Something like a casino needs to have a broad level of support–a critical mass of support…You’re never going to get New Yorkers to agree 100% on everything, but it has to have a substantial amount of buy-in from the community.”

An Our Town article published on February 12, 2024 (with the telling headline, Another Town Hall Where Locals Mostly Rail Against Casinos in Manhattan) quoted NYS Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal on the need to “center the community and insure [sic] community members have the opportunity to have their voices heard. I’m going to be using my involvement with the community advisory committee…to do just that: insure [sic] that the proposals–and there are two of them in my district on the west side of Manhattan–are first and foremost beneficial to and desired by the community around it.”

The will of those living near a proposed casino location was also on the Senator’s mind at Village Preservation’s April 16, 2025 Manhattan Borough President Candidate Forum on Preservation, where Hoylman-Sigal said, “I’m opposed to Casinos, end of story…This is about whether a community wants a casino or not…And that’s why we have a Community Advisory Committee…I haven’t had a constituent–a voting, living, breathing member of Manhattan–come up to me, grab me by the lapels and say, ‘Senator Hoylman-Sigal, we need a casino in my neighborhood.’ I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

Chelsea Community News will continue to follow this story. Notes nycasinos.ny.gov here, “CACs must vote on their respective project by September 30, 2025. Those Applicants approved by their CAC will then submit supplemental application material – including a proposed tax rate – to the Board for evaluation and consideration. The Board expects to make decisions by December 1, 2025, followed by Commission licensure by December 31, 2025.”

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