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New York’s top court ruled in favor of the city in its quest to build affordable housing on the city-owned site of a Nolita sculpture garden, signaling that a years-long effort by community groups to block the project may be nearing its end.
In a 6-1 ruling on Tuesday, the state’s Court of Appeals rejected an argument by the nonprofit Elizabeth Street Garden that the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development had done an inadequate environmental review when it approved plans for a 7-story building on the Lower Manhattan site, set to contain 123 units of senior housing.
The decision narrows the potential ways that defenders of the garden, who have mounted a well-funded legal campaign to save it, can continue to block the project that has been planned since 2013. Pennrose is the lead developer of Haven Green, which would also contain 6,700 square feet of public open space.
Norman Siegel, an attorney for the nonprofit, told Crain’s that the garden backers “strongly disagree and are disappointed with the majority decision.”
“The challenge to preserve Elizabeth Street Garden is not over. It will continue,” Siegel said. He added that there are “other legal strategies that the legal team is giving serious consideration to pursue,” but said he was not yet prepared to discuss them.
The garden nonprofit also has an appeal pending in a separate case focused on the city’s attempt to evict the garden from the site, after a Manhattan judge ruled in the city’s favor last month.
The battle over the site has been held up as a prime example of New York City’s inability to respond quickly to its housing shortage. Supporters of the garden call it a precious oasis of green space that should be preserved, and have pointed to other nearby sites they see as more suitable for development.
But the city and pro-housing advocates say the Haven Green project would fill a crucial need in an area with a large senior population. The garden site has been leased since in 1991 by antiques dealer Allan Reiver and then by his son, Joseph, but the elder Reiver only opened the garden to the public a decade ago, as the city began planning the redevelopment.
In Tuesday’s ruling, the Court of Appeals dismissed the garden group’s argument that HPD had failed to consider environmental factors like climate change when it determined that the Haven Green project would have no significant impact on the surrounding area.
“Here, HPD identified appropriate areas of concern, took the necessary ‘hard look,’ and rationally determined that the project would not have a significant adverse impact on the environment,” the judges wrote.
Judge Jenny Rivera was the lone dissenter, authoring a 24-page dissenting opinion that concluded that HPD “failed to take the requisite hard look at the climate change impact of the project, including the reduction in open space, and did not provide a reasoned elaboration for its determination.”
The suit decided Tuesday was first filed in 2019 by the garden nonprofit, which is made up of local businesses and community organizations; and by Allan Reiver, who founded the garden after accessing the site through his next-door furniture store. Joseph Reiver became the face of the legal fight after Allan died in 2021.
In a social media post, HPD hailed the decision as “a win for affordable housing” and for “truly public green space.”
“Amidst the current housing crisis and climate crisis, we cannot afford to say no to new homes in well-resourced neighborhoods,” the agency wrote.
A judge in the eviction case gave the garden a stay of eviction until September, to give it time to relocate its heavy sculptures and benches. The judge also ordered the garden to repay $95,500 in back rent, plus interest.
The project’s other developers are RiseBoro Community Partnership and Habitat for Humanity, and the project will include a new headquarters for Habitat for Humanity on the ground floor. The developers expect to close on its financing this month, and could build the project by 2026 unless there are further delays, according to its website.
Nick Garber , 2024-06-18 18:42:09
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