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Rhode Island's Lincoln Park Betting on Expansion

"With more customers than it can handle now, the casino wants to increase its number of machines by about 75 percent.

"…New, friendlier zoning ordinances for the park, adopted last month by the Lincoln Town Council, make that expansion possible. And Town Council members say that they not only knew their action would open the door to expansion, but they also welcome it.

"Lincoln Park houses 1,700 video-slot machines in 45,000 square feet of space on two floors in the main building. The building also has a section for parimutuel betting and a grandstand for the park's dog racing track. By far, most of the park's revenues come from the video slots.

"…Before the recent zoning change, an 800-foot buffer zone mandated by the town made developing that building difficult, Bucci said, because part of the building falls into that zone. Under the old zoning restrictions, even renovating that building would have required extensive negotiations with various town boards and commissions.

"But last month, the Town Council agreed to shrink the buffer zone, which separates the park's activities from surrounding residential areas. The council voted 4 to 1 to reduce the buffer zone to 350 feet for uses such as parking lots, meeting facilities and retail shops. On the southern boundary of the property, the council reduced the buffer zone to 600 feet for gambling purposes.

"The reduction on the southern boundary means that the second building now falls completely within the area of the property available for gambling operations.

"Still, Lincoln Park's expansion hinges on the state Lottery Commission's approval of its request for additional machines…"

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