by John Osborn
Harvard residents who have been worried a casino might appear on the town's doorstep can now breathe a sigh of relief.
Boxborough selectmen voted four to one Monday evening against a motion in favor of entering into negotiations with the Cordish Companies of Baltimore, Maryland, to convert the Holiday Inn near the Rt. 111 and Interstate 495 interchange into a 1,250 machine, slots-only, casino, restaurant and entertainment complex. The vote kills any chance the proposal will be pursued.
Roughly 200 residents gathered in the Blanchard School cafeteria to hear their five-member Board of Selectmen discuss the issue in a 45 minute meeting held just before Boxborough's Annual Town Meeting, which was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. "This is not a hearing," chairman Les Fox told the standing-room only crowd. "This is a regular meeting of the selectmen, at which we will deliberate whether to enter into negotiations with the Cordish Company." He promised to allow public comment, but "we will adjourn at 6:45 p.m.," he said.
Fox and three other selectmen made statements. There was time to hear only one two-minute public comment from each side of the argument. No one expressed outright support for a casino, and statements against having one in town were greeted with loud applause.
In his opening statement, Fox observed that among the few hundred residents who had signed electronic and paper petitions or written directly to the selectmen, 88 percent were opposed to a casino and 12 percent wished to learn more. Only eleven were unequivocally in favor, he said.
Among the selectmen, only Frank Powers voted to enter into negotiations with Cordish. He said that he was neither for nor against the having a casino in town, but wanted more time to explore their proposal. But former selectwoman Jean Kangas, who spoke against the motion, told the selectmen "there is no way you're going to get a two-thirds vote [at Special Town Meeting]" to make the necessary change to Boxborough's zoning bylaw to allow gambling. "Don't waste our time," she said.