MGPP legal challenge

On June 29, 2010 at 11 am, New York Supreme Court Justice Marcy Friedman will hear oral arguments on a motion for reconsideration that was filed by several BrooklynSpeaks sponsors, elected officials and individuals challenging the approval of the Atlantic Yards Modified General Project Plan. The case will be heard in Room 335, 80 Centre Street in Manhattan.

On April 8th, a group of BrooklynSpeaks sponsors, elected officials and individual petitioners filed a motion asking that the Court reconsider its decision not to reverse approval of the Atlantic Yards Modified General Project Plan (MGPP). The petitioners are asking Judge Friedman to review new evidence that was not considered when she made her decision.

The new evidence consists of a master development agreement that was executed between the developer, Forest City Ratner (FCR) and other parties in the Atlantic Yards project, after the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) had already agreed to approve the Modified General Project Plan. That agreement was withheld from public disclosure until after the hearing in the case.

The BrooklynSpeaks sponsors are disappointed that the court did not reverse the approval of the Atlantic Yards’ 2009 Modified General Project Plan.

Although Judge Friedman ruled against the community’s petition, she criticized the Empire State Development Corporation’s rationale for continuing to rely on the previously-estimated ten-year build out as "marginally sufficient to survive judicial scrutiny under the limited SEQRA standard," and observed that ESDC’s review of the 2009 Modified General Project Plan "lacked the candor that the public was entitled to expect, particularly in light of the scale of the Project and its impact on the community." We couldn’t agree more.