Posted by Owners' Counsel of America at 3:59 PM
May 3, 2012
On the eve of a hearing before the New
York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, the City of New York has withdrawn its eminent domain suit and halted
efforts to acquire private property in the “Iron Triangle” of Willets Point, Queens. The condemnation actions were scheduled for
a hearing Monday at which time the property owners’ attorney, Michael
Rikon, planned to contend that the City’s
proposed takings for the $3 billion Willets Point redevelopment plan were
neither for a public purpose nor conducted appropriately under requirements set
forth in NY State’s Eminent Domain Procedure Law (EDPL), the New York State
Constitution or the U.S. Constitution.
[Disclosure: Michael Rikon is an eminent domain
attorney in Manhattan and the New
York Member of the Owners' Counsel of America. ]
According to The New York Observer, “There were a lot of
things going against the city here, and in view of all that, I think someone
made the executive decision that this was going against the city and would set
a bad precedent for all future takings,” Michael Rikon
told The Observer.
Mr. Rikon, an attorney for Willets
Point United, a landowner group fighting the city, said that the city faced a
tough case because of issues ranging from a failure to have translators at the
eminent domain hearing (many property owners are Latino) to not providing
notice in person and having no clear public use yet assigned (there was not yet
a developer in place at the time of the hearing). “It’s strange, too, because
rarely do you win these kinds of cases,” Mr. Rikon
said of eminent domain defendants, “but I really think this could have been
different.”
While NYC has confirmed that it has withdrawn the eminent
domain case, a City spokesperson has indicated that the project continues to
move ahead.
“We’re very close to having a deal in place that will
transform Willets Point into New York City’s next great neighborhood and
continue the historic progress we’ve already made there,” said Julie Wood,
spokeswoman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “Today’s action ensures that our plan
will comply with the site’s myriad technical and legal requirements.”
The City’s proposed public use is questionable and has been
at the center of the property owners’ challenge against the use of eminent
domain. The alleged purpose of the redevelopment for which private
property need be condemned is to “transform a largely underutilized site with
substandard conditions and substantial environmental degradation into a lively,
mixed use sustainable community and regional destination.” The property
owners, however, have argued that this proposed use is “no more than
pure speculation, with no developer chosen or even having agreed to undertake
this significant and costly project.”
The withdrawal of the eminent domain suit does not preclude
the City from attempting to use eminent domain in the future and may allow it
to correct the mistakes and other procedural errors conducted over the last 3
years of this redevelopment project’s life. As a matter of fact, The NY Times reports that the City “plans to submit a
new set of findings, after the environmental review and the public review.
Those, in turn, will almost certainly generate a new lawsuit opposing the
project.” The Times also noted that the City has now selected a
developer for the first phase of the redevelopment plan, a joint venture of
Related Companies and Sterling Equities, a real estate company owned by Fred Wilpon and Saul B. Katz, the owners of Citi
Field and the Mets.
There is certainly more to come in this story. But for now,
we send our congratulations to Mike Rikon, the
members of Willets
Point United and the private property owners, businesses and
individuals who will continue on in the “Iron Triangle.”
For more commentary visit our blogging colleagues at inversecondemnation, New Jersey Condemnation and Gideon’s
Trumpet.