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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, FEBRUARY 23, 2020
Get off my lawn
City to appeal judge’s order on
revamp of Fort Greene Park
The city fi led to contest a judge’s order for the Parks Department to produce more evidence in favor
of the agency’s controversial revamp of Fort Greene Park. Photo by Kevin Duggan
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The city’s Law Department plans to
appeal a state judge’s ruling ordering
the Parks Department to prove that their
controversial plans to revamp parts of
Fort Greene Park don’t require a state
environmental review, according to officials.
City legal eagles filed a notice of appeal
on Feb. 13 against state Supreme
Court Judge Julio Rodriguez III’s January
order for the agency to produce evidence
that their $10.5 million park overhaul
— which includes felling 83 trees
— wouldn’t have a significant impact
on the neighborhood’s namesake lawn,
siding with local environmental advocates.
According to their lawyer, the city
opted to engage in further legal battles
as a ploy to avoid taking a closer look at
the park project itself.
“We would have hoped the city would
have gone ahead and done an appropriate
environmental review, but they chose to
exercise their right to have the judge’s
order reviewed,” said Richard Lippes.
Now that the city has indicated their
intent to contest the ruling, they have
six months to file their appeal, which
would bring Rodriguez’s order before a
group of judges at the state’s Appellate
Court to review the decision, delaying
any movement on the park even further,
according to Lippes.
A group of residents under the moniker
Friends of Fort Greene Park sued
the Parks Department in April, arguing
they were trying to bypass the State
Environmental Quality Review Act for
their plans by classifying the project as
routine maintenance and accessibility
upgrades, and one local advocate said
the city should just go back to the drawing
board and get the community more
involved in the design.
“Had the agency worked with the residents
we would have had a much better
outcome by now and we hope the parks
can reconsider and begin a more cooperative
process with the residents,” said
Fort Greene resident Ling Hsu.
The scheme called for the elimination
of 83 trees, 52 to make way for a grand
paved plaza at the Myrtle Avenue and St.
Edwards Street corner of the park, and
another 31 to accommodate a redesign of
the area near Myrtle Avenue and Washington
Park.
The upgrades also include an expanded
adult fitness area, a new basketball
court, and tentative plans to replace
the old sidewalk at St. Edwards Street,
and the judge specifically noted in his
decision that the Department failed to
explain why those aspects were only minor
maintenance and repairs.
The Fort Greene residents group previously
successfully sued the agency,
when a judge ruled that the Department
had lied about the health of dozens of the
trees to advance their plan.
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