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Activists Vow Appeal of Atlantic Yards Ruling

NEW YORK CITY-A four-judge panel says the use of eminent domain to further the Brooklyn mega-project does not violate the state constitution's Public Use Clause.

By Cody Lyon | Updated on May 19, 2009

NEW YORK CITY-A four-judge New York Appeals Court panel dismissed a challenge to Forest City Ratner Cos.’ Atlantic Yards project this past Friday, saying the use of eminent domain to take private property to build housing–and in this case–a new basketball arena, does not violate the state’s constitution. The plaintiffs vow to appeal to the state’s highest court.

In one section of its decision, the court wrote “the condemnation does not violate the Public Use Clause of the New York state constitution because it cannot be said that the public benefits which the Atlantic Yards project is expected to yield are incidental or pretextual in comparison to the benefit that will be bestowed upon the project’s private developer.”

Specifically, the challenge was brought by nine tenants and owners of property inside the 22-acre proposed project’s footprint against the New York State Urban Development Corp., a unit of the quasi-governmental agency Empire State Development Corp. ESDC would then condemn the nine properties and transfer ownership to Forest City Ratner, the sole developer of the project.

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