What the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) does with the land of Roosevelt Island is controlled by a Lease between its owner, the City of New York, and the State, acting through RIOC, which is effectively the State's managing agent here. There's a General Development Plan (GDP) attached to the Lease, often called "a loose collection of ideas" by RIOC consulting attorney Barbara Espejo, but considered by many to be a binding document.

On September 22, the RIOC Board of Directors passed a resolution giving "final designation" to the Southtown developers, the Hudson Companies and The Related Companies, after several months of public appearances and private meetings by Hudson/Related in which they presented their evolving plan for the land between the Tram station and the existing apartment buildings of Northtown.

During that series of public presentations, RIOC President Robert Ryan had told Islanders that "nothing is cast in stone," but the September Board action seemed to finalize the positioning of buildings, including structures that would rise on the soccer/baseball field just north of the derelict Nurses Residence.

Two legal actions followed. Both Roosevelt Islanders for Responsible Southtown Development (RIRSD) and Attorney Robert Chira (representing the Alternative Southtown Design Committee) claimed RIOC had not proceeded properly, had failed to conduct required environmental reviews, and was about to build on land reserved in the GDP for a six-acre park between Southtown and Northtown.

Later, the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) asked the court to allow it to participate, on behalf of residents, in the RIRSD and Chira cases.

Chira's opposition to RIRA participation and RIOC's legal responses to the original actions are reported in the accompanying articles. Much of the legal paperwork, as well as a recent history of Southtown development planning and a list of WIRE articles on the subject, is available on this website.