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December 16, 2010
The Battle for Atlantic Yards Simmers On
The Cooper Gazette
by Helen Buyniski
For seven years, Atlantic Yards, a 16-skyscraper mixed-use development anchored by the Barclays Center arena, has been the subject of a bitter battle between community activists and real estate developer Bruce Ratner. With a ten-foot black sign advertising the arena planted in the construction site like a victory flag, Ratner appears to have won the war, but for the two key opposition groups, the fight continues.
...DDDB has filed court papers seeking a stay of construction based on last month’s ruling in the state Supreme Court against the Empire State Development Corporation. In the first legal victory for Atlantic Yards opponents in over a year, Judge Marcy Friedman accused the ESDC of “purposefully withholding information” about the project’s timetable and failing to evaluate the additional environmental effects of a 25-year construction period as opposed to the 10 years originally approved by the state. If DDDB is awarded the stay, it hopes to force a reevaluation of the plan that takes into account the impact of an additional 15 years of construction. One major issue is the 1100-space “temporary” parking lot that would be the second-largest in Brooklyn, constructed on a block that was to include affordable housing and public open space but is now needed for construction staging, according to the developer.
Posted by eric at December 16, 2010 10:22 AM