A rendering of the gambling facility that Churchill Downs is planning at the Staples Mill Shopping Center at Staples Mill Road and Glenside Drive. (County documents)
Henrico supervisors’ opposition to a planned horse-betting parlor has the backing of the county’s state legislative delegation.
A letter signed by the eight members who represent Henrico in the Virginia General Assembly calls on the CEO of Churchill Downs Inc. to withdraw the company’s plan for a casino-like parlor with “historical horse racing” game machines at Staples Mill Shopping Center.
The July 16 letter is addressed to CEO Bill Carstanjen, who leads the company that runs the Kentucky Derby and owns the Colonial Downs racetrack in New Kent County and the seven Rosie’s Gaming Emporium parlors across Virginia. Churchill Downs submitted the Henrico plan via its Richmond-based Colonial Downs Group LLC.
“We are writing to express our unequivocal opposition to the Colonial Downs Group and Rosie’s Gaming Emporium’s proposal to convert part of the Staples Mill Shopping Center into a new gambling facility and casino-like parlor,” the letter reads.
“This proposal was submitted before new zoning rules took effect, thus circumventing the public process that Henrico was in the midst of implementing. This project, which includes the installation of 175 historical horse racing machines, has the potential to bring about undesirable changes to our community.”
The letter continues: “As state legislators, we are committed to advocating for the best interests of our constituents. Allowing this project to proceed without proper scrutiny and public input would be a disservice to the people we represent. We call on the Colonial Downs Group and Rosie’s Gaming Emporium to withdraw its application.”
The letter is signed by Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, whose office distributed it, as well as by Sens. Lamont Bagby and Lashrecse Aird and by Dels. Delores McQuinn, Hyland (“Buddy”) Fowler Jr., Rodney Willett, Destiny LeVere Bolling and David Owen.
The opposition joins that of Henrico Supervisor Dan Schmitt, whose Brookland District includes the planned location. At a recent board meeting, Schmitt publicly denounced the company’s timing in light of the zoning rules update that had been underway since May, and said his four fellow supervisors likewise oppose the move.
An aerial view of the venue, which would be housed between a Subway restaurant and Virginia ABC store.
The company submitted its plan a week before the board voted late last month to update zoning rules to require that all gambling facilities proposed in the county must obtain a provisional-use permit, a process that involves board approval and a public hearing.
Schmitt contends that Churchill Downs knew the rule change was coming and submitted its plan when it did to circumvent the review process and chance for public scrutiny. Because it was submitted before the change, the plan is considered “grandfathered” and exempt from the permit requirement.
Churchill Downs has declined to comment on the project, which a spokesperson described as in a preliminary stage. The spokesperson did not respond to an email Tuesday asking if the legislators’ letter had been received and if the company had a response.
The 25,000-square-foot facility is set to fill a vacant space between the Virginia ABC store and Subway restaurant in the shopping center’s main building at Staples Mill Road and Glenside Drive. In addition to the gaming machines, the venue would include a restaurant and bar.
The property’s B-2 business district zoning has allowed historical horse racing machines as a by-right use with a maximum of 175 machines. More than that would require a provisional-use permit from the county, though the recent rules change requires a PUP regardless of the number of machines.
VanValkenburg, whose office said he led the bipartisan effort, described the letter as being needed in light of Churchill Downs’ actions.
Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg
“A huge part of it is the way it went down with the county by beating the process of it,” the senator said. “I would prefer that it not be in our county at all – that’s my personal position on those kinds of facilities, not just Rosie’s but any gambling entity like that – but also the county has been clear that they didn’t want it.
“The legal argument they make is they have it by right, and I think under state law that that might be correct. But there was also a previous owner that said, ‘Yeah, we might have this under law but if we’re not wanted, we won’t come,” he said, referring to a previous proposal to locate the venue near the Top Golf in Henrico’s Westwood area.
“The idea that Henrico was saying, ‘Wait, we don’t really want this,’ and then Henrico was in the process of changing how it handles those types of things and they tried to get things in under the wire, I think both the process and the substance are problematic.”
VanValkenburg said Tuesday he hadn’t received a response but that he’s been in touch with Churchill Downs’ local representatives, to let them know the letter was coming and also to ask that they do what Henrico is asking.
“I don’t think any of us are in the posture where we want it to be a confrontational thing. I think we’d rather they withdraw the proposal and allow Henrico to finish the process it’s on in updating its ordinances and then move forward from there,” he said. “I think we’re pretty unified in the sense that the process was wrong, and I think there’s a pretty strong majority around the idea that we’d rather not have a mini-casino in a strip mall, particularly in that location but really anywhere.
“The fact that you have local government and the state delegation for that local government all asking you to not do something because we’d like you to respect the locality’s wishes, and to have them just say, ‘We don’t care,’ I think is pretty problematic and disrespectful,” VanValkenburg said. “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.”
The Virginia Racing Commission in 2018 awarded Colonial Downs Group licensing for 600 historical horse racing game machines at the reopened New Kent racetrack and 700 at the Richmond Rosie’s on Midlothian Turnpike. The Rosie’s in South Richmond, which opened in 2019, is one of seven opened so far across Virginia. Churchill Downs Inc. acquired Colonial Downs Group in 2022.
The post State legislators join calls for Henrico gambling parlor project to be withdrawn appeared first on Richmond BizSense.