{"id":265,"date":"2020-06-17T04:35:51","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T04:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/develop.mtopp.org\/?page_id=265"},"modified":"2021-01-03T22:26:15","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T22:26:15","slug":"legal-actions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mtopp.org\/index.php\/legal-actions\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal Actions"},"content":{"rendered":"
History and Review<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Community Plan<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
\n

I<\/span>n 1991 a community plan was passed into law<\/strong>, that prevented development of tall buildings<\/strong> along the Brooklyn Botanic Garden “BBG<\/strong>“, to protect <\/strong>the community and the BBG. \u00a0Three sites <\/strong>were identified as A, B, C with height limits of 60\/70 feet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Developers Buy Land In\u00a0Anticipation<\/span>\u00a0of Rezoning!<\/span><\/strong>
\nIn <\/span>2014 Cornell Realty <\/strong>\u00a0began buying up properties within sites A, B, and <\/span>Continuum brought site C.<\/strong>\u00a0 At the same time a\u00a0request was submitted to the Department of City Planning “<\/span>DCP<\/strong>” to <\/span>rezone all along the BBG<\/strong> and Prospect Park, by C<\/span>ommunity Board 9<\/strong>. \u00a0However, the community residents pushed back against the request and <\/span>it was\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>rescinded<\/u><\/strong><\/span>.<\/span><\/span> \u00a0Another request <\/span>passed in 2015, which is currently at the appeals court waiting to be heard. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If this rezoning request had been process, then the <\/span>land along BBG <\/strong>would have been<\/span> rezoned<\/strong> under a community plan, but because of <\/span>community resistance<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, DCP has <\/span>been powerless<\/strong> to move forward with a <\/span>district wide rezoning<\/strong>. \u00a0As a result the owners of the properties have decided to <\/span>place private applications<\/strong> to rezone with DCP.<\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>2017 C<\/strong>ornell submitted a rezoning application for sites <\/span>A, and B,<\/strong> but <\/span>withdrew it <\/strong>when the local <\/span>Councilperson Laurie Cumbo <\/strong>refused to <\/span>entertain this application<\/strong> because she was facing a <\/span>serious challenge<\/strong> to her seat and didn’t want another <\/span>controversial rezoning plan to occur<\/strong>. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After Laurie won her re-election campaign<\/span><\/a><\/strong>, Cornell resubmitted its application and <\/span>got Cumbo’s approval <\/strong>and thus the City Council’s approval, in December of 2018, based upon a “<\/span>Miracle Deal”<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>of affordable housing, <\/span>which never existed.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In<\/span> April 2018<\/strong>, we\u00a0<\/span>filed a lawsuit\u00a0against the City and Developer<\/strong>, stating that the City <\/span>failed to conduct its environmental review lawfully<\/strong> and the <\/span>Developers lied <\/strong>on their application to avoid looking at <\/span>environmental consequences.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We obtained a <\/span>Temporary Restraining Order “TRO”<\/span><\/a> <\/strong>preventing the developers from laying any concrete \u00a0and then another specifically stating that <\/span>no disturbance of the soil.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, instead of dealing with the <\/span>“merits<\/strong>” of the case, (the reason for the lawsuit) for the last <\/span>ten months<\/strong> we have been fighting to <\/span>keep the case alive<\/strong> along with <\/span>fighting several scams <\/strong>that the <\/span>developers and the City <\/strong>have been engaged in to <\/span>get around the lawsuit <\/strong>by <\/span>breaking the TRO<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Developers and the City have made <\/span>serious accusations<\/strong> that our case should be <\/span>dismissed<\/strong> because Cornell Realty is was <\/span>not the owner of the application<\/strong> (despite their name being on the application) and Cornell <\/span>no longer own any of the properties,<\/strong> (despite the fact that <\/span>they never owned <\/strong>any of the properties, either before, during or after the rezoning).<\/span><\/p>\n

There was also the issue<\/span> <\/span><\/span>that we didn’t serve the developers<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>with the<\/span> legal papers<\/strong>, despite the attorney, who got the papers\u00a0writing a letter\u00a0that we did.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the meantime as we are <\/span>wasting time on these issues<\/strong>, the <\/span>City <\/strong>has been planning and<\/span>\u00a0scheming\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>with the Developers,<\/strong> granting them<\/span> permits to violate the TRO <\/strong>under an v<\/strong><\/span>oluntary environmental clean up program<\/strong> and an <\/span>old permit<\/strong> that was issued in <\/span>2015 under the old zoning<\/strong> regulations. \u00a0This has resulted in <\/span>f<\/span><\/a><\/span>ive people being arrested.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

As a result \u00a0we are demanding that both Civil and Criminal Charges<\/a> be brought against the City and The Developers for violating the TRO.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The following is an overview of our initial filings related to the Cornell Realty Rezoning. See the Franklin Ave Rezoning and the 960 Franklin Ave Rezoning pages for a more detailed list of our filings.<\/div>\n

Article 78 – Memorandum of Law in Support of Petition<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n