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 April 29, 2000 |
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Southtown Challenge Is Becoming Legal "Battle of Blackwell Park" In the Battle of Blackwell Park, The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) and the developers of Southtown are holding fast. We have two reports (below), as well as a background report on the dispute: Report #1: RIOC's claim, in response to legal actions mounted against construction on the soccer field, is that the Southtown plans conform to the Island's General Development Plan (GDP). Report #2: Meanwhile, Attorney Robert Chira has asked the Court to deny the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) a role in the cases, saying RIRA got interested in the matter too late and has nothing to add.
RIOC Says Blackwell Park Not Reduced and
As it stands, the GDP – attached to the Lease granting the
State the right to develop the City-owned Island – requires
a park of "approximately six acres" between existing Northtown
buildings and those in the new Southtown development. The City's
Board of Estimate, which controlled at the time but subsequently
was eliminated from City government, retained that requirement in
1990, denying a RIOC request that the specified park acreage be
reduced.
While there are other issues in the cases brought against RIOC's
September 22 resolution – whether procedures were strictly
followed, whether environmental reviews were properly done, and
whether GDP requirements for affordable housing will be observed
– the Blackwell Park matter stands out starkly in legal
papers as the key controversy.
In its filings, RIOC frames its view of the issue in these
words:
"The reduction in Blackwell Park, from approximately 6 acres to
approximately 3.86 acres, occurred with the completion of
Northtown Phase I's Eastwood building in 1977. RIOC sought
through its proposed amendments to the GDP in 1990, to
acknowledge this de facto reduction. ... For reasons that are not
clear, the Board of Estimate declined to adopt this change.
However, its decision not to recognize formally this reduction
cannot be read to have increased the size of Blackwell Park by
extending its boundaries into the northern reaches of
Southtown."
RIOC's papers, prepared by Stephen Kass of Carter, Ledyard &
Milburn, its outside counsel, go on to point out that when
"Meditation Steps and [the existing] Blackwell Park are
considered together, [the development plan] will preserve
approximately six acres of open space buffer" between Northtown
and Southtown.
Attorney Jeff Baker, who represents RIRSD, gave The WIRE this
reaction to RIOC's papers: "I think their arguments regarding
the GDP and [environmental matters] are made from whole cloth and
do not reflect formal legal action taken by the Board of Estimate
or RIOC in the past." As to the park's size, he said, "The Board
of Estimate said 'no,' and there's simply no way to argue that
they didn't say 'no.'"
A judge – there have been three, so far, in the cases,
though none has yet ruled on anything – will decide just
how firmly the GDP rules, and whether RIOC's interpretation of
its terms is an acceptable observance of the Lease-GDP agreement.
Arguments are likely to be heard this summer, with a decision
possible by Labor Day.
The approved plan, RIOC says, "would not encroach on Blackwell
Park, which will remain at its current size of approximately 3.86
acres." RIOC does not recognize the soccer/baseball field as
part of Blackwell Park. Any claim that the Park includes the
playing field, says the RIOC filing, is a "distortion" that
"ignores the de facto reduction in the size of Blackwell Park,
which took place close to a quarter century ago and which the
RIOC Board attempted to acknowledge by its proposed amendment to
the GDP in 1990." The Chira and RIRSD petitions "incorrectly
incorporate approximately three acres of what has always been
regarded as Southtown. The area south of the 'fork in the road'
has never been considered part of Blackwell Park and has remained
open space only because the Southtown development has been
delayed."
The "Blackwell Field" land involved was turned into a
soccer/baseball field by residents, in the Island's early
residential years. They carved it out as a temporary – or
permanent, depending on the outcome of these cases –
recreational space. Keeping it as a playing field is a core
issue in the RIRSD legal case.
The RIOC papers also reject a claim that Octagon Park money has been diverted to pay for Southtown infrastructure, saying there was a simple and legal "exchange of work" between the City's Department of Environmental Protection and RIOC, with City funds going to RIOC for its discretionary use. It promises, "Any remaining landscaping work to be completed at Octagon Park... will be performed by RIOC with a combination of funding from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, insurance proceeds from a recent fire at the Octagon building, RIOC's available fund balance and/or a developer's funds." The RIOC papers also claim, disagreeing with the RIRSD contention that it should have taken Southtown through the City's environmental review procedure, that as a State agency, RIOC is not required to comply with the New York City Zoning Resolution and Building Code" – effectively claiming State "override" powers that free RIOC from City control.
Chira Opposes RIRA Intervention,
The Residents Association would bring nothing new to the legal
battle over Southtown.
Those legal actions seek to hold RIOC and the developers to an
interpretation of the GDP that calls for a park of approximately
six acres separating Southtown from the existing buildings of
Northtown Phase I Rivercross on the west shore and Eastwood on
the east shore.
Chira's legal papers say RIRAs opportunity for taking legal
action passed because the residents organization failed to act
within a four-month window September 22 to January 22 for
opposing RIOCs plans. RIRA concedes... that the issues raised in
its motion are already before the court, Chira writes in his
papers, but seeks to... bootstrap itself into the same legal
status as the existing petitioners.
It is doubtful [RIRA] would allege anything different, Chira
writes, saying, there is already a great deal of focus and
attention in both pending proceedings... [on] compliance with the
Islands GDP... In sum, no showing has been made [that RIRA] has
an interest different from that of the existing petitioners, nor
that it or Island residents would be prejudiced by denial of
intervenor status, nor does the proposed intervenor show it has
any particular interest or insights to illuminate the issues
already before the court.
In opposing the intervention, Chira concludes that RIRA should
submit a friend of the court brief if it believes it has any
particular expertise or insights to offer.
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That's essentially the position taken in papers filed by Attorney
Robert Chira, who is opposing RIRA involvement in the cases
challenging RIOCs approved plans for Southtown. RIRA, through
its attorneys, is seeking to intervene, or participate, in cases
brought, separately, by Chira (who chairs the Alternative
Southtown Design Committee) and by Roosevelt Islanders for
Responsible Southtown Development (RIRSD), headed by Rivercross
resident Steve Marcus.
RIRA's filing seeks solely to focus judicial attention on the GDP
as a controlling document. Reacting to the Chira filing, RIRA
Counsel Jeff Glen told The WIRE, "RIRA would hope that all
parties opposed to the [current] Southtown plan... would work
together in the pending judicial challenges."