Lawmaker Steps In To Protect Parkland
A state senator is suing to block the construction of a 1.4 million square foot shopping megadevelopment, it was announced Monday, Feb. 10.
State Sen. Tony Avella, along wth watchdog groups the City Club of New York and New York City Park Advocates, as well as several area business owners and private residents, filed a lawsuit that claims the development plan did not recieve sufficient public vetting or the necessary green light from state lawmakers.
The Queens Development Group -a union of Sterling Equities (which owns the New York Mets) and Related Companies-is seeking to develop more than nearly 100 acres of land in and around Willets Point. Some of the land to be developed is actually situated west of Citi Field (on the footprint of what was Shea Stadium), within Flushing Meadows- Corona Park.
Parkland cannot be used for a non-park purpose unless the state legislature approves the project- something that never happened in Willets Point’s case, the suit charges.
Moreover parkland is not zoned for any use and would need to be zoned (requiring a lengthy public review process) before the project could move forward, Avella’s suit claimed.
The state senator and his allies have alleged that building a mall on parkland violates the Public Trust Doctrine and zoning law. The suit asks that the development undergo a Unified Land Use Review Procedure before the area can be rezoned.
The Queens Development Group reportedly justified the project based on a 1961 agreement allowing Shea Stadium to be constructed and leased to the Mets.
Avella is charging that the statue authorizing does not apply to new developments-particularly commercial ones like a mall.
The area in question currently serves as a parking lot for CitiField, but petitioners say it is a lot more. Groups use the space for, among other things, races, car shows and wheelchair baseball games, the suit claims.
The uses “demonstrate that conventional park use has remained available, albeit to a limited extend, on the parking field.” But, razing the lot for a mall would curtail the uses that keep the lot compliant, the suit charges.
The petition states that the statue allows for “recreational and educational purposes, trade fairs and the like,” going on to say that the mall would contradict a clause in the state constitution barring gifts of public money or land to private organizations.
The second phase of the plan, which includes the affordable housing compnent and schools, is contingent upon the city completing infrastructure improvements including new access ramps to the Van Wyck Expressway.
The Queens Development Group can get out of that obligation entirely by paying $35 million in damages, it was noted.
