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August 29, 2006
Questions Remain
DDDB.net
"Ratner's Rules of Order" are making a mess out of the public hearing and the public comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
Legal, but Bad Box Office
First, the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) public comment period was limited to a scant 66 days for nearly 4,000 pages of documents. It's legal, but a bad PR move, since every politician who gave a damn, one way or another, lined up to denounce the schedule.
Curious Distinction
The schedule included a "public hearing" and a "community forum" — a curious distinction. The ESDC assured the community and press that the "hearing" and "forum" are the same thing, even going as far as to request a correction from the Brooklyn Papers, wich wrote that the August 23rd hearing would be the "only public hearing" (it still is).
A Tale of Two Forums
Just yesterday, the ESDC scheduled another "community forum," shoehorned between the previously scheduled "forum" and the last day of the comment period.
A Wrinkle in Time
This has caused a new wrinkle in the saga of the ESDC schedule. DDDB posted this explanation of the latest confusion on its web site:
By state law the ESDC is required to hold public written comment open for at least ten days after the public hearing. With the newly scheduled public hearing on September 18th, that would mean the written comment deadline should now be September 28th. Instead the ESDC has kept the September 22nd written comment deadline.
In response to the addition of another "community forum," Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn attorney Jeff Baker is taking the ESDC at its word, and requesting an extension to the comment period:
As you know, the SEQRA regulations require that the lead agency receive public comments on an DEIS for “no less than 10 calendar days following a public hearing at which the environmental impacts of the proposed action are considered”. 6 NYCRR § 617.9(a)(4)(iii). Clearly that regulation applies to ESDC’s “Community Forums”. We are not aware of any factual or legal distinction between the “public hearing” held on August 23rd and the “community forums” to be held on September 12th and 18th. At both the “hearing” and the “forum” comments are being taken on the DEIS, a transcript is being made and all of the comments are being considered. Furthermore, ESDC’s “Basic Protocol for the Community Forums” notes that persons who signed up to speak at the public hearing but were not given an opportunity to speak, will be given priority at the community forums and that persons, including public officials, who already spoke at the public hearing will not be permitted to speak at the forum. Clearly, the “forums” are nothing more than a continuation of the public hearing. Changing the name of the event does not alter its essential nature. Since the forums are functionally identical to the hearing, the forums must be deemed a continuation of the public hearing and thus comments must be accepted for 10 calendar days following the last public hearing/forum.
Therefore we request that you confirm and publish a new notice recognizing that written comments will be accepted until 5:30 PM on September 28, 2006.
Baker letter to ESDC (PDF).
Curiouser
By bending over backwards to accommodate Forest City Ratner, seemingly improvising new rules and law ("Ratner's Rules of Order!") along the way, the ESDC curiously looks like they are itching for a protracted legal battle.
Posted by lumi at August 29, 2006 8:27 AM