COURIER L 6 IFE, FEBRUARY 21-27, 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.