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March 15, 2011
Atlantic Yards Opponents Head to Court Over Project Timetable, Legal Fees
Park Slope Patch
by Geoffrey Decker
Only days after the one-year anniversary of the Atlantic Yards groundbreaking, the last standing lawsuit against developer Bruce Ratner’s mega-development will hit the courts.
Today opponents will reargue in Manhattan Supreme Court that the developer won approval from the state for the Atlantic Yards project in 2009 by submitting incomplete data. And Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, one of two major activist groups opposed to the project, will also attempt to recoup some of their legal costs.
Lawyers for Develop Don’t Destory are suing the Empire State Development Corporation, the state agency overseeing the project, for $35,027.94 in legal fees, according to court documents. The group seeks back pay for its attorneys who spent several months challenging the decision that gave Ratner the green light to begin construction.
Opponents will also reargue that the approval of the project hinged on a timeline rooted in figures that forecast the completion of the entire Atlantic Yards project in 10 years, though subsequent data put completion of the Atlantic Yards as far away as 25 years. This extended timeline, opponents argue, was intentionally withheld from the courts to win a critical ruling shortly before the groundbreaking.
Posted by eric at March 15, 2011 12:47 PM