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August 1, 2007
Use of Eminent Domain Begins in Atlantic Yards Plan
The NY Sun
By Eliot Brown
"Dear Property Owner" letters have started to arrive in the footprint of Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards mega project — though based on the headline, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn notes that the reader might think that the State was already bringing in the bulldozer brigade:
The state is pushing forward with its plans to use eminent domain in preparing for the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project, the future home to a Nets basketball arena and more than 6,000 apartments in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Since late last week, property owners in the footprint of the project have been receiving letters from the state asking for financial information relating to property appraisals, an initial step in the land-taking process.
A spokesman for New York's Empire State Development Corporation, Errol Cockfield, said the use of eminent domain was a ways off. The state will not proceed while a lawsuit challenging eminent domain procedure law is pending, and other suits could potentially delay the process as well, Mr. Cockfield said.
"This is an early step in a process that won't be ultimately resolved for some time," Mr. Cockfield said.
Posted by lumi at August 1, 2007 9:09 AM