The Town of Cobleskill voted Friday in favor of a casino at Howe Caverns.
But Supervisor Leo McAllister and councilmen are willing to withdraw that support-a requirement for the Howe Caves Development project to proceed-if there's significant opposition to it at a public hearing set for 8pm, Monday, May 12.
Initially opposed to the idea of a casino, Mr. McAllister said he changed his mind in part because leaders to talked to in the communities surrounding the Turning Stone Casino had nothing bad to say about it.
"Almost all of them had the same concerns that we do, and to a one, they agreed that none of that had developed to anything significant that they could measure," he said of things like increased crime and drug use.
Howe Caverns has estimated that the casino could mean as much as $11 to $16 million in local revenues.
Even at half or a quarter of that, Mr. McAllister said, that would be substantial.
"We can't keep saying no to everything," he added. "And though my first responsibility is to the Town of Cobleskill, I also have a responsibility to the county, and supervisors are definitely in favor of it."
Schoharie County supervisors voted in March to support the idea of a local casino, and though their resolution didn't explicitly name Howe Caverns, since no one else has proposed a project here, Caverns spokesman Chris Tague said it's by default a support of their proposal.
"There's no place that fits the Governor's criteria like ours does," he added. "We're shovel-ready and we've already done the traffic, geological and environmental studies [as part of other expansion plans]. We're ready to go."