Willets Foes Plan Suit Over Eminent Domain
By Joseph Orovic
The NYC Economic Development Corp. held a public hearing regarding the use of eminent domain to assume control of some land in Willets Point on Wednesday. Though the Tribune's printing schedule conflicted with its ability to cover the hearing in this issue, opponents of the plan have revealed their next move.
In what promises to be a protracted legal battle, attorneys representing the projects' naysayers will file petitions with the state appellate court, challenging the EDC's adherence to the Eminent Domain Procedure Law.
Their legal challenges, which they plan to file days after the agency responds to public concerns regarding the plan, represent a push into murky and somewhat uncharted legal waters.
Michael Rikon, the lead attorney in the planned case, claimed the City has intentionally subverted or ignored crucial procedures that would have provided oversight of the redevelopment of the Iron Triangle, as well as a fair shake for all landowners.
"Everything [the EDC] has done is wrong and it has made promises it would not go forward," he said. "It's rewriting the book."
The EDC responded with a brief statement: "We will review the lawsuit when it is filed and look forward to resolving it so that we can continue to make progress on this project."
According to Rikon, the City has not met the essential litmus test of public use, saying the condemnation is merely speculative until a defined project and developer are named.
Joining Rikon in the suit is attorney Michael Gerrard, the tandem's environmental guru who is best known for touting the now-ubiquitous "Van Wyck ramps" defense.
His part in the proceedings includes the City's flawed initial Environmental Impact Statement, which was rejected by the State Dept. of Transportation. Gerrard said the EDC's promise to sort out ramps off the Van Wyck expressway before condemnation proceedings was the lynchpin to a Judge's decision to throw out a previous Article 78 filed against the City.
In the time since, the EDC has revised its process, with a technical memo in tow, changing their condemnation proceedings to a phased system, addressing the 62-acre Iron Triangle's redevelopment in chunks.
Phase 1 of the project does not include an area that mandates ramps, the City contends, and therefore does not require a DOT-approved ramp plan.
Gerrard sees the claim as a means to circumvent the court's decision and procedure. And the technical memo does not meet the standard of a revised EIS when major changes to initially proposed plan are made, Gerrard said.
In addition to Gerrard's case, Rikon plans to argue against the EDC's handling of property buy-outs. The process, which Rikon said should be numerically equitable in terms of price per square foot, has been stilted in favor of larger property owners - ones Rikon claims the City targeted in order to quickly reach its greater-than-50-percent target of ownership.
Rikon said the petitions would be filed after the eminent domain hearing runs its procedural course, which is several months away.
Reach Deputy Editor Joseph Orovic at jorovic@queenstribune.com or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 127.