By Connor Adams Sheets
An attempt by more than 20 Willets Point business owners and landowners to block the mixed-use development project the city has planned for the 62-acre area has been denied in State Supreme Court.
The group filed a petition last year asking the court to annul both the environmental review and the City Council and City Planning Commission’s approvals of the plan. It also asked the court to file an injunction barring the plan from moving forward.
The petitioners contended that the city’s April 2008 environmental review of the project “fails to take a hard look at the environmental impacts” and to ignore the expected “severity” of those impacts.
State Supreme Court Judge Joan Madden denied the petition, saying in her ruling that “it is not the role of the court to ‘weigh the desirability of a proposed action,’ but to determine whether the agency has complied procedurally and substantively” with New York state’s Environmental Quality Review Act, which she ruled the city had done.
Jerry Antonacci, president of Willets Point United, a group of Willets Point business owners and others joined in opposition to the redevelopment proposal, said Madden’s decision was “disappointing” and that the group intends to appeal, but that it will also try to stop the plan by proving it will greatly increase traffic throughout the borough.
“We have also called for an independent traffic analysis to be performed, because the work done so far by the city’s consultant has been designed to secure approvals,” he said via e-mail. “Queens residents have to realize that our effort to prevent this project is the only thing that stands in the way of the city unleashing unreasonable amounts of traffic on the roadways that we all use.”
City Economic Development Corp. President Seth Pinsky applauded the ruling, saying it is a boon for Queens and the city as a whole since it clears a hurdle blocking the way for the redevelopment of Willets Point.
“Today’s judgement … moves Willets Point one step closer to becoming New York’s next great neighborhood, a center of opportunity and a driver of growth for the city’s economy,” he said. “It’s good news for Queens residents and the local economy, and it’s another affirmation for a project that has the overwhelming support of the City Council, local elected officials and the community board.”
Michael Gerrard, an attorney for Willets Point United, said the ruling was something of a “double-edged sword for the city,” which is attempting to get state Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration approval for ramps to the Van Wyck Expressway — critical to the project’s success.
“The city is trying to downplay the traffic impacts in order to get the approval for the ramps, so I don’t know how they’re going to do that little two-step when they told the court how adequate the environmental impact statement was because it confessed how terrible the traffic would be,” he said. “That was what they told the court a year ago, now they’re telling the Federal Highway Administration the traffic’s going to be fine, don’t worry about it.”
Gerrard said the petitioners are weighing whether or not to appeal Madden’s ruling and urging the state and federal governments to deny approval for the Van Wyck ramps.
“We are urging those agencies to reject the ramps. They would greatly degrade conditions on the Van Wyck, they would turn it into a virtual parking lot,” he said.
Pinsky said the city continues to make headway toward being able to begin the first phase of construction of 5,500 housing units, 500,000 square feet of office space, 1.7 million square feet of retail, a school, a hotel and more at Willets Point, also known as the Iron Triangle, which is currently home to a number of small businesses specializing in industries such as auto repair.
“Over the last several months, the city has continued to make progress in acquiring privately owned land parcels at the site, raising the amount of land in the first development area that the city controls to about 80 percent,” Pinsky said. “Active negotiations with several other landowners are moving forward.”
Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
