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November 21, 2009
Court Decision on Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards Possible Monday or Tuesday
The Brooklyn Eagle
By Ryan Thompson
Tension builds over the anticipated eminent domain decision by the New York Court of Appeals even as an additional lawsuit was announced this past Thursday.
It is very possible that the New York State Court of Appeals will issue its decision on the constitutionality of eminent domain at Atlantic Yards Monday or Tuesday.
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There has been much speculation that the ruling would be made before Thanksgiving, which is Thursday, but the Court of Appeals has not said anything to that effect.
If the appeal filed by landowners is successful, the plan for Atlantic Yards will either have to be entirely abandoned or dramatically redesigned, which would likely take years.
If the appeal fails, then the state will go forward with taking title of the land through a court proceeding in Brooklyn Supreme Court, which Atlantic Yards opponents will also challenge. If the state is ultimately successful, it will then lease the land to Ratner for a nominal fee, such as $1.
Ratner, however, will still have to fight the myriad of lawsuits that have been filed against his planned 22-acre project, which is expected to bring the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn.
On Thursday, another lawsuit was filed, making it the third in less than 40 days.
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This latest lawsuit, which challenges the project’s approval process, comes at a time when both sides of the legal controversy are eagerly awaiting the state’s high court to rule on the most important issue of all the cases — whether the state acted unconstitutionally in exercising eminent domain over property owners whose land sits in the proposed footprint of the Atlantic Yards basketball arena.
Posted by steve at November 21, 2009 6:25 AM