Image Credit: NYC DOT.
On October 4, 2022, the Appellate Division, First Department ruled in favor of the City in its appeal challenging a February Supreme Court ruling that halted the City’s development of the permanent open restaurants program. (more…)
A rendering of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering/CUNY-Hunter College development, seen from 74th Street facing FDR Drive. Image credit: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Court held City did not act arbitrarily; parkland-for-floor area was not illegal quid pro quo. On October 9, 2013, the City Council approved an application by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and The City University of New York/Hunter College for development of a former New York City Department of Sanitation garage. (See CityLand’s past coverage here.) Residents for Reasonable Development petitioned for injunctive and declarative relief, arguing the environmental impact statement failed to consider Hunter’s expansion as well as Sloan-Kettering’s or a residential use of the area, and that granting additional floor area for new public space was an illegal quid pro quo.
A rendering of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering/CUNY-Hunter College development, seen from 74th Street facing FDR Drive. Image credit: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Upper East Side community group did not meet burden of proof that City acted arbitrarily. On July 28, 2014, the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan denied petitions for declarative and injunctive relief against the proposed expansion of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital. The petitions were brought by the Residents for Reasonable Development and several Upper East Side residents acting individually. The petitioners argued that the institutional uses of the project were incompatible with the largely residential area, and that approvals by the City Planning Commission and City Council were granted without consideration to the general welfare.
Neighbors win claim of express easement to access beach along Long Island Sound. In 1928, Locust Point Estate subdivided a large parcel of land on the Throgs Neck peninsula in the Bronx into six residential parcels, and recorded a declaration granting to the new owners easements over six private roads including Casler Place, a dead-end street leading to a patch of beach on the shore of the Long Island Sound. Casler Place remained a private road until 1986 when the City dedicated all but the eastern end of the block as a public street. (more…)
Losing bidders challenged DOT’s selection of Spanish-based outdoor advertising franchisee. In May 2006, the City approved a 20-year franchise to Cemusa, Inc. to construct and maintain citywide street furniture, including bus shelters, news racks and pay toilets, on which Cemusa would be permitted to sell advertising space. Approval by the City’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee came after a DOT-initiated request for proposals, a DOT-review and award process, and a public hearing. 3 CityLand 129 (Sept. 15, 2006).
Losing bidders NBC Decaux and Clear Channel challenged the City’s approval, claiming that DOT improperly communicated with Cemusa two months before its decision, leading to Cemusa’s bid edging out the competition, and Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff colluded with City officials to offer franchise criteria that favored Cemusa due to its ability to provide worldwide ad space for the 2012 Olympic bid. The parties also alleged that DOT improperly computed Cemusa’s plan for scrolling ad space by counting it as guaranteed revenue even though it was unclear whether the City would allow scrolling ads. Finally, NBC and Clear Channel argued that Cemusa was not the most experienced bidder and that Cemusa’s bid did not represent measurable cash values required by the RFP, since it offered worldwide ad space in lieu of cash. (more…)
