[NYguy]

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pb...NewYork.com%29

City's Willets Point plans hit legal pothole
Judge asks authorities why she shouldn't reverse her earlier dismissal of lawsuit to block the redevelopment after city skirts restrictions.

By Erik Engquist
March 29, 2011

The city's bid to redevelop Willets Point, Queens, hit a pothole Tuesday when a judge ordered the Bloomberg administration to show why she shouldn't revoke the go-ahead she granted last summer.

State Supreme Court Judge Joan Madden had ruled that the project could proceed because the city promised not to condemn any land until it had approval for new Van Wyck Expressway ramps, which it had deemed essential to the project. But when state and federal approval of the ramps proved elusive, the city split the project into two phases and moved ahead with condemnations, arguing that the ramps were not required for Phase I.

But the administration failed to make that argument to the judge.

According to Michael Gerrard, the attorney for Willets Point property owners who object to the city's plan, the judge signed an order directing the city to explain why her order dismissing his lawsuit should not be vacated.

City lawyers will prepare a brief, the property owners will write a response, and the judge will hear oral argument in open court July 20. Mr. Gerrard and his clients are asking that she reopen the case. But because they did not ask for an injunction, the city can continue with its eminent domain proceeding, said Connie Pankratz, a spokeswoman for the city's corporation counsel.

“Since its pending litigation now, we're not able to comment,” she said.

Last August, Ms. Madden ruled against the Willets Point group on all of its claims—which ranged from questioning the environmental review to contending the office of the deputy mayor for economic development did not have the authority to be the lead agency on the project.

The city's plan for the 62-acre site, a stone's throw from Citi Field, calls for 5,500 housing units, eight acres of open space, 500,000 square feet of office space, 1.7 million square feet of retail space, a school, a hotel and a convention center.