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June 30, 2009
State's highest court accepts eminent domain appeal; oral arguments in October, thus complicating AY end game
Atlantic Yards Report
The Atlantic Yards end game just got a whole lot more complicated.
Despite claims May 15 by Forest City Ratner CEO Bruce Ratner that the unanimous dismissal of the state eminent domain case in May "is really the last hurdle," the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, has accepted (PDF) an appeal in the case and won't hear oral arguments until the middle of October.
While eminent domain law still tilts significantly to the advantage of the condemnor, in this case the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), the court's willingness to hear it indicates that it believes the originating court, the Appellate Division, did not address some aspect of the legal argument.
Also, as Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) noted, last year half of all civil appeals were affirmed, and the other half were either reversed (about 40%) or modified (about 10%).
The case is brought by nine residential and commercial tenants and property owners in the AY footprint, and is organized and significantly funded by DDDB.
Delays in groundbreaking, arena bonds
At the very least, the appeal delays Forest City Ratner's announced plans to begin construction by October and severely narrows--but does not close--the window of opportunity to have crucial tax-exempt bonds issued by the end of the year.
Click through for a rundown of the constitutional issues in question.
NoLandGrab: The New York State Court of Appeals has just blasted a very large hole in any and all claims that legal challenges to the use of eminent domain for the Atlantic Yards project have been "frivolous."
Attorney George Locker, who represents a group of Atlantic Yards footprint rental tenants who are fighting condemnation, added this comment to Norman Oder's post:
The appeal halts all moves by ESDC to proceed with relocation and the EDPL Article 4 vesting proceeding. The project has just ground to a halt. There certainly will be no groundbreaking in 2009, and probably no groundbreaking ever. Or maybe the basketball coach sees it differently.
Posted by eric at June 30, 2009 10:15 AM