VOICE OF GOWANUS PREVAILS IN COURT SKIRMISH
THIRD JUDGE UPHOLDS RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST CITY
REQUIRES CITY TO RELEASE FULL REZONE APPLICATION TO THE PUBLIC
Today's Hearing
Kings County Supreme Court Justice Katherine A. Levine upheld a restraining order against the city today, blocking the de Blasio Administration from certifying the Uniform Land-Use Review Procedure (ULURP) application for its massive Gowanus rezoning proposal, pending a second hearing scheduled for Tuesday, February 2nd.
“We are pleased that the Court has maintained nearly all of the TRO today. Certification of the ULURP Application remains barred for the time being. The Court allowed for the City to release the ULURP Application, which we agree is helpful for public review,” said attorney Jason Zakai of Hiller, PC. “Our clients look forward to continuing their efforts to obtain meaningful public access as the case continues,” Zakai said.
As part of her narrow ruling today, Judge Levine required that the de Blasio Administration release the full rezoning application to the public, and has asked for the parties to come up with “creative solutions” that would allow for “ample access” to the public and that address the array of issues with the City’s virtual-only plan for public hearings. Justice Levine has left in place a restraining order dating back to January 15th that stops the city from certifying its rezoning application. Only certification will trigger the start of ULURP.
What it All Means
“The court today affirmed that there are significant access and equity issues with the city’s attempt to hold virtual-only public hearings on the Gowanus rezoning,” said Jack Riccobono of the Voice of Gowanus Legal Committee. “The judge’s decision wisely requires that the city release the full Gowanus rezoning application to the public, and stops the city’s attempt to stifle full, fair and equitable community participation during the public review process.”
This decision is the third time in two weeks that a judge has sustained an order preventing the city from certifying the Gowanus rezoning.
“We’ve said it for months and it’s clear from today’s decision: our concerns here in Gowanus about issues of access and due process are real. Virtual public hearings in their current form are not sufficient under city law for rezonings,” said Gowanus resident Brad Vogel of Voice of Gowanus. "We'll continue our grassroots fundraising push with the Gowanus Legal Defense Fund to keep this legal effort going."
Looking Forward
The de Blasio Administration’s plan for virtual hearings is rushed, poorly planned, technically flawed, and under-resourced. As the legal process moves forward, Voice of Gowanus has vowed to continue the fight to protect our democratic institutions and to make sure the city follows the law, so that all New Yorkers can have their voices heard during the public review process.
Voice of Gowanus
http://www.voiceofgowanus.org/
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3 comments:
According to one article, the judge said : That’s life,” Levine said, noting that the parties in the lawsuit can’t hear each other as well during virtual hearings compared to in-person proceedings. “That’s too bad. That’s Covid.”
According to our justice system, excluding those with poor access to reliable Internet may be "too bad". On a side note, the Public was excluded from attending (virtually) today's legal proceeding - is that also illegal?
My 10 year old daughter said "... so the judge said we can start reading the zoning before the review clock starts running and the City said that would be cheating?". I tried to explain to her the importance of "tradition" in NYC bureaucracy and failed.
Interesting to see some, like Minister of Misinformation Mike R, making it look like those who filed the lawsuit are trying to block the EIS from being released. As those watching closely know, the petitioners' attorney has actually tried to get the EIS released during the past several weeks.
The city could and should have released the EIS months ago. The city keeps stalling. City doesn't want the public to have time to review the massive document in time to raise a ruckus before community board hearing.
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