Search Results for: Land Use Law

Environmental review challenge dismissed

State Supreme Court ruling allows City to continue the construction of ballfields on Randall’s Island. In July 2006, the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation concluded its environmental review and found that constructing 34 new ballfields and reconstructing 31 existing ballfields on Randall’s Island would not significantly impact the environment.

The next month, Parks sent a letter to Manhattan Community Board 11 stating that it would present a funding plan for the ballfield … <Read More>

Union Square Park restaurant on hold

The City was forced to halt construction on the pavilion at Union Square Park. Photo: Jonathan Reingold.

Judge issued a temporary restraining order, thwarting the City’s plan to install a restaurant in Union Square Park. In 2004, the City announced plans for a $14 million renovation of the entire north end of Union Square Park, with the Union Square Partnership contributing $6 million for the effort.

Under the plan, the park’s pavilion would be renovated … <Read More>

TransGas still pursuing Greenpoint power plant

TransGas seeks to construct a 1,100 megawatt generating facility on land that the City intends to convert to a public park. In October 1999, Brooklyn Community Board 1 submitted plans to the Department of City Planning to rezone the Brooklyn East River waterfront in Greenpoint and Williamsburg. The rezoning was in response to the decline in manufacturing activity and the increase in residential demand in the area. The rezoning also envisioned a 28-acre park on … <Read More>

Court affirms dismissal of Atlantic Yards challenge

Residents argued that the project’s public uses were illegitimate. The $4 billion Atlantic Yards project calls for an 18,000-seat arena for the Nets professional basketball team, a 180- room hotel, at least 16 high-rise apartment and office buildings, and eight acres of open space. The project site includes the Atlantic Terminal Urban Renewal Area, as well as surrounding areas developed by commercial and residential structures. The project calls for the Empire State Development Corporation to … <Read More>

Building owner to pay for FDR repairs

Building’s foundation with cracks over and along the FDR. In 1938, the Board of Estimate approved an extension of the FDR Drive from East 92nd Street down to East 49th Street. The City acquired full title to the land necessary for the extension except from East 54th to 56th Streets, where it acquired a permanent easement from the Henry Phipps estate to use the area for street purposes. The estate retained the right to erect … <Read More>

Federal court challenge to Atlantic Yards dismissed

Residents failed to show that the project offered no public benefit. Brooklyn residents sued in federal court, challenging the state’s plan to use eminent domain to take their property as part of the Atlantic Yards project. The residents claimed that the project failed to meet a public purpose, and that the state was taking private property solely for the private benefit of Forest City Ratner Companies, the project’s developer.

Defendants, including the Empire State Development … <Read More>