A Walk in the Park: NY's Highest Court Rejects Mega-Mall In Flushing Meadow-Corona Park

The State's highest court rejected the $1 billion Bloomberg-era giveaway of 47.5 acres of public parkland in Flushing Meadow’s Corona Park to one of the country’s most politically connected developers to build Willets Point West mega-mall. Critics of theplan argue that if the 40-plus acres of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park being proposed for mall use are no longer needed for CitiField parking then it should revert back to its original recreational use. (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on image to enlarge.

Queens

By Geoffrey Croft

There will be no massive mega-mall next City Feild for the public so "recreate" in, the six year battle to prevent the illegal taking of public parkland may finally be over.

The State’s highest court rejected the $1 billion Bloomberg-era giveaway of 47.5 acres of public parkland in Flushing Meadow’s Corona Park - to one of the country’s most politically connected developers, along with NY Mets owners - to build the city's largest mall.

The Queens Development Group - a joint venture between The Related Companies and Sterling Equities, whose owners are New York Met’s principle owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, were attempting to build a 1.4 million square foot mall as part of a 47.5 acre project in the Park.

"...the text of the statute and its legislative history flatly refute the proposition that the legislature granted the City the authority to construct a development such as Willets West in Flushing Meadows Park," the New York Court of Appeals ruled.

The court ruled 5-1 against the defendants with one dissention.

In July 2015, The New York State Appellate Division rejected the parkland mega-mall shopping complex deal and ruled in favor of plaintiffs, including NYC Park Advocates, who sued to block the city and the Queens Development Group from seizing nearly 48 acres of public parkland in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

The court ruled that the project violated the Public Trust Doctrine and prevented any construction on parkland from proceeding.

The Related Companies and Sterling Equities just got approval to build this mall on the western parking lot of Citi Field.

The Related Companies and Sterling Equities just got approval to build this mall on the western parking lot of Citi Field.

Proposed Mega-Mall. State Alienation legislation is required under state law to use parkland for non-park purposes. The Bloomberg administration, including Seth Pinsky, president of the city’s Economic Development Corp., said that permission to develpet was already given under a 1961 law. This week New York's highest court disagreed. (Rendering EDC)

The proposed mall in Flushing Meadow Corona Park was never part of the original Willets Point development which was approved in 2008.

The public land was thrown by Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council to sweeten the deal for developers.

The developers strategy in court proceedings and in public misstatements has been to try and connect the two development projects - Willet’s Point West, a proposed massive mall on 47 acres of public parkland, and Willets Point, 60 acres of automotive shops on the other side of Citi-Field. The defendants had argued strenuously that Related needed the public parkland in order to build Willets Point.

The court rejected that.

"Those contentions, however, have no place in our consideration of whether the legislature granted authorization for the development of Willets West on land held in the public trust. Of course, the legislature remains free to alienate all or part of the parkland for whatever purposes it sees fit, but it must do so through direct and specific legislation that expressly confers the desired alienation."

The next step is whether or not the powerful developers will try and bypass the court’s ruling and get State elected officials and the Governor to alienate the park land.

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, on behalf of the Cuomo administration petitioned the State’s highest court to vacate a lower court decision which prohibited the commercial development of the mega-mall in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

Related and Sterling have donated at least $187,300 in contributions to Governor Cuomo and AG Schneiderman since 2010 according to the Board of Elections’ website.

Donations from Related’s top two executives and their wives, Stephen M. Ross and his jewelry designer Kara Ross, and Jeff and Kara Blau are included in the contributions.

The massive Willets West mega-mall planned to build on the parking lot in Flushing Meadows - Corona Park. (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on image to enlarge.

New York’s highest court today held that construction of a regional shopping mall on dedicated parkland in Flushing Meadows Corona Park could not go forward, because it was not specifically approved by a State law.

The shopping mall was to be built on what is now the parking lot for CitiField. Under an ancient common law doctrine known as the “public trust doctrine,” any lease or sale of government land held by for a public purpose must be approved by the State Legislature.

The City and the developers (the Related Companies and Sterling Equities, the latter owned by the owners of the Mets) had argued that the law that authorized construction of Shea Stadium also authorized construction of the mall. After carefully analyzing both the legislative history and the language of the statute, the Court flatly rejected that contention.

Chief Judge DiFiore was the lone dissenter.

Today’s decision of the Court of Appeals is a victory for the public trust doctrine and for parks. The decision is important in at least two respects. First, it reiterates that the Legislature’s approval of any alienation of parkland must be specific.

http://www.savefmcp.org

There is no dispute that the Legislature, in 1961, enacted a law that allowed the construction and leasing of Shea Stadium. This is the first time the Court of Appeals has held that even a law that concededly does alienate parkland will not be read as going any further than what is specifically says. As the Court said, any “proposed alienation [by the Legislature] must plainly fall within the scope of the legislative direction authorizing alienation.”

The decision is also important because it suggests, consistent with prior precedents, that the public trust doctrine applies to parks, but also to “other lands held in the public trust,” such as streets, wharfs, and public buildings.

"I’m very pleased at this outcome, not only for the principles that the Court reaffirmed, but also because the proposed project would have been injurious to many people, including the individual petitioners," said plaintiff's attorney John Lo-Beer, of New York City Club.

"I hope that this decision will lead to a better future for Willets Point and for Flushing Meadows Corona Park," he said.

Today’s decision of the Court of Appeals is a victory for the public trust doctrine and for parks, NY State Senator Tony Avella expressed.

The decision is important in at least two respects. First, it reiterates that the Legislature’s approval of any alienation of parkland must be specific. There is no dispute that the Legislature, in 1961, enacted a law that allowed the construction and leasing of Shea Stadium. This is the first time the Court of Appeals has held that even a law that concededly does alienate parkland will not be read as going any further than what it specifically says. As the Court said, any “proposed alienation [by the Legislature] must plainly fall within the scope of the legislative direction authorizing alienation.”

"Today’s decision was a resounding victory for the public trust doctrine and residents across New York State," State Senator Avella said in a statment.

"This land was intended to be used as parkland, not for the development of a mega-mall. In a city where public land is in short supply, simply handing over parkland would be an absolute disgrace and a betrayal of the public trust. This victory sets a precedent for decades to come that our government cannot give away our parkland or be complicit in a developer’s heist of public land,” Avella said.

"Queens Civic Congress is ecstatic that the tough battle to preserve city park land from developers has been won by the community," Kevin J Forrestal, president, Queens Civic Congress said in a statemnet.

"QCC is very pleased that this decision will set a precedent forever upholding the state's Public Trust doctrine and preserving our valuable public spaces," he said.

The civic group also thanked the attorneys for their incredible work in arguing a complex case as well as fellow petitioners for working together on this.

Delivering The Deal - October 10, 2017. Big Winners. A beaming Related Companies' Charles J. O'Byrne, Queens City Council member Julissa Ferreras, Jeff Wilpon - New York Mets COO and the executive vice-president of Sterling Equities and son of New York Mets principal owner Fred Wilpon, and Glenn A. Goldstein - president of Related Retail and registered lobbyist, pose shortly after the City Council vote. (Photo: William Alatriste /New York City Council)

In June 2012 Mayor Bloomberg announced a new Willets Point plan, one that handed over 47.5 acres of public parkland in Flushing Meadows Corona Park adjacent to CitiField.

The parkland, 23 acres of it on CitiField parking lot, was to be developed into, “Willets West,” a massive shopping mall, a million- square-foot retail and entertainment center with more than 200 stores, movie theaters, restaurants, a parking structure and surface spaces for 2,500 cars.

The winners of the bid were the Related Companies, and Sterling Equities, the real estate firm controlled by the owners of the Mets. Officials hoped to break ground in three years and expected the project to take up to 15 years.

The other developers competing to developt Willet's Point were at a disadvanage as they could not compete with the Mets parking lot scheme.

Related Companies initially sought to build a casino at the site, offering $100 million to acquire the property, including the parkland.

Legal questions began to emerge immediatly after the announcement.

State Alienation legislation is required under state law to use parkland for non-park purposes.

A 1961 Robert Moses agreement allowed the Mets to built on the parkland with very specific caveats, non of which allowed the development of a mega-mall.

The Bloomberg administration claimed the 1961 agreement allowed the parkland to developed so they rolled the dice and did not seek this approval.

In October 2013 the City Council voted to approve zoning amendments to the Willet's Point plan. Not surprising the parkland connection to the Willets Point West development was never mentioned during the public hearing.

In order to get to this point the Bloomberg administration and the City Council bypassed important land use procedures including the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). The Mayor claimed all land use powers of the former Board of Estimate belonged to him, clearly a violation of ULURP.

On the day of the vote members of the Related team were seen repeatedly disappearing into the Executive side of City Hall.

In exchange for the approvals the developers agreed to give $15.5 million to the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Alliance, a public-private conservancy Queens Council member Julissa Ferreras created with the help of New Yorkers For Parks, a non-profit partner of the Parks Department.

Julissa Ferreras delivered the deal and thanked the groups that helped make it possible, Make the Road, a community organization she funds, Queens Fairness Coalition, and New Yorkers For Parks.

The elected officials practically fell over themselves congratulating each other for standing up for, "principles."

Land use Chair Leroy Comrie wanted to, "especially thank all the advocates that came and made sure the projects were done to their concerns. They were heard and listened to as part of process," he said with a straight face.

Staten Island Council member Vincent Ignizio was proud of his colleagues.

"I also want to point out that very often the media portrays this body in a negative light but what you see here today is the hard work of council members who stood up for their principles, stood up for their community and ultimately got a great deal," Ignizio said during the Subcommittee on Zone & Franchises vote.

Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in an effort to prevent the illigal taking of the parkland.

During court proceedings defendants tried desperately to maintain that a shopping mall built on parkland is a recreational activity and therefor a park purpose.

Today New York Court Of Appeals thankfully disagreed.