ESDC grilled over blight, “civic project” in EIS lawsuit hearing, but judge’s latitude may be limited
Detailed report on the contining Atlantic Yards lawsuit by Norman Oder. For full article (including graphs and maps) see http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2007/05/esdc-grilled-over-blight-civic-project.html
If the first oral argument in the Atlantic Yards eminent domain lawsuit turned into a primer about the meaning of “public purpose,” then the first and likely only oral argument in the AY environmental review lawsuit yesterday highlighted some skepticism about two fundamental elements of the Empire State Development Corporation’s (ESDC) review of the project; the state’s finding of blight, and the state’s determination that the Atlantic Yards arena would qualify as a “civic project” under state law.But in some ways, the cases, one in federal court and the other in state court, are about the same thing, allegations of a sweetheart deal or, as the petitioners’ attorney Jeff Baker described the allegations yesterday, a “state agency coming in, promoting a private developer, and using its power to override local control, resulting in a project of enormous scale.”If successful, the suit heard yesterday would force the ESDC to revise and reissue the environmental impact statement (EIS), causing, at the least, delay in the project and potentially requiring additional mitigation of adverse impacts. (Arguably, the legitimacy of the entire project might be jeopardized.)