Council votes to support Willets Point plan in court

From the Observer:

Defying the de Blasio administration, the City Council passed a resolution today to support a major Queens development in court.

The City Council voted overwhelmingly to attach an amicus brief reaffirming its approval of a 2013 plan to redevelop Willets Point, Queens. Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat the liberal-leaning Council typically sides with, chose not to stand with the pair of developers after an appeals court ruled earlier this summer that the $3 billion project illegally gobbles up city parkland. The developers, Related Companies and Sterling Equities, challenged the ruling, and won a victory in November when the state’s highest court opted to consider the appeal.

But at least one Queens city councilman disagreed. Councilman Rory Lancman broke with the Queens Democratic establishment to vote down the resolution, agreeing with the rationale of the lower court that the parkland near Citi Field could not be alienated without approval from the State Legislature. He also said the Council didn’t have to be bound by Bloomberg era terms.

‘The intermediary appellate court has found, correctly in my view, that using the land in question for a shopping mall would improperly alienate parkland without the authorization of the state—an important safeguard against the permanent giveaway of cherished public spaces for minimal public benefit,” Mr. Lancman said.

City Council desperate to have mall built on parkland

From Capital New York:

The New York City Council, which often sides with Mayor Bill de Blasio, is breaking ranks over a planned development at Willets Point in Queens.

The Council plans to vote on Wednesday on a resolution that would authorize it to file an amicus brief defending the plans, which were initially approved by the Council, as land-use applications must be.

The amicus brief itself has yet to be written, and the resolution gives the Council six months to file it in court, but the legislative body will side with the developer in arguing that a mall should be built on existing parkland outside Citi Field.

The Queens Development Group, a partnership of the Related Companies and Sterling Equities, is appealing a decision from earlier this year that would have banned the construction of the mall. The state Court of Appeals last month decided to consider the developer's case.

The Council seems to have no problem disregarding clear public sentiment since 2012, exemplified by Queens Civic Congress being a plaintiff in litigation opposing the Willets West mega-mall on parkland. The Council may be soliciting this vote of its members based on a misrepresentation, as council never considered or voted to approve the mega-mall. (All the council did approve was a special permit to temporarily use Willets Point as a parking lot.) Council must solicit this vote based upon the facts, not upon Queens Development Group's inaccurate revisionist history.

I guess we should be checking campaign contributions in a few months?