A New York judge ruled last week that opponents of the Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn will be able to reargue their case that the Empire State Development Corp. violated the state’s environmental quality review act.
State Supreme Court Judge Marcy Friedman wrote in a decision that the ESDC knew the build-out of the mixed-use housing development could take 25 years when they argued that a supplementary environmental impact statement was not necessary.
In its arguments against needing a new impact study, the corporation relied on earlier studies that anticipated a 10-year build-out even as it was negotiating an agreement with developer Forest City Ratner Cos. that recognized it could take longer, Friedman wrote in the case, which was brought by the group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn Inc.
The project stirred opposition over the state’s use of eminent domain to seize private property on behalf of a private developer.
Last year the Brooklyn Arena Development Corp. sold $511 million of tax-exempt bonds on behalf of Forest City Ratner to partially finance the controversial, $1.06 billion Barclays Center, an 18,000-seat professional basketball arena being built on the site, in addition to planned apartment towers.
“The trial court’s ruling does not enjoin construction of the arena or the other elements of the Atlantic Yards project,” ESDC spokeswoman Elizabeth Mitchell said in an e-mail. “Construction of the arena and the other elements of the Atlantic Yards Project are proceeding.”
