A court session scheduled for Wednesday morning could be a major turning point for Roosevelt Island development.

At 9:30 that morning, Justice Harold Tomkins of the New York State Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on petitions filed by Roosevelt Islanders for Responsible Southtown Development (RIRSD) and the Alternative Southtown Design Committee (chaired by Attorney Robert Chira). The Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) also seeks to be heard by the Judge.

The case could have a major impact on the nature of Southtown. In a broader view, it could set the framework for further Island development – Southpoint, the Octagon, the Eldercare project.

The petitioners contend that the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) Board mis-stepped and overstepped on September 22 when it gave the go-ahead to The Hudson Companies and the Related Companies and their plan for Southtown – the area between the Tram station and the fork where Main Street divides, just north of the soccer/baseball field. Their action is brought under Article 78 – a statute that allows a challenge to a State agency's actions.

On the other side are RIOC and the developers, The Related Companies and The Hudson Companies. They claim RIOC's action was proper.

Key questions are:

• Should RIOC have conducted a full environmental review, rather than relying on a finding that the review of an earlier plan, done in 1990, covers the new plan and contemporary conditions adequately?
• When the City's Board of Estimate turned down a RIOC request to reduce Blackwell Park from "approximately six acres" to something smaller, did that rejection mean RIOC would have to allocate about six acres for a Blackwell Park "separating Northtown and Southtown," as called for in the General Development Plan? Or could RIOC shrink the park anyway, on the grounds that Northtown buildings had been constructed too far south, thus covering some of the park?
• Does the General Development Plan (GDP) – part of the Lease between City and State – rule? Or can RIOC treat it as a somewhat flexible set of guidelines?