Towers planned for the sites would cast shadows for more than three hours per day on the 52-acre greenspace and damage plants growing in its conservatories, activist Alicia Boyd says.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Reginald Boddie held a closed-door conference on Friday for the case brought by Boyd and two fellow Crown Heights residents, which challenges development at 931 Carroll St. and 40 Crown St.
Another Brooklyn Supreme Court judge, Justice Johnny Lee Baynes, initially issued the temporary restraining order in April. Specifically, the ruling bars the pouring of concrete at the sites.
From left: Crown Heights residents LaShaun Ellis, Alicia Boyd and Michael Hollingsworth are carrying out a legal challenge against high-rise development near the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Eagle photo by Lore Croghan
After the conference with Justice Boddie on Friday, Boyd thanked supporters for donating $1,000 to a fundraising campaign related to the case. She said she would use the money to post a bond that would be required if she wins a preliminary injunction.
Boyd, LaShaun Ellis and Michael Hollingsworth brought the lawsuit, which is called an Article 78 proceeding, against City Councilmember Laurie Cumbo, the Department of City Planning and its Director Marisa Lago, plus Winston Von Engel, who is the department’s Brooklyn director.
The City Planning Commission and the city Buildings Department are also targeted in the suit.
In this type of lawsuit, government entities and officials are the defendants — or respondents, as they are called.
Cornell Realty is a non-government respondent.
The development firm won zoning changes last year that allow 175-foot-tall, 16-story towers to be built at 931 Carroll St. and 40 Crown St. The process (guided by the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP) was called the Franklin Avenue Rezoning — not to be confused with the nearby Spice Factory development site.
The numbered towers in this drawing are planned Crown Heights developments that are covered by a temporary restraining order. Rendering via the Department of City Planning
In the Franklin Avenue Rezoning case, Boyd filed a motion requesting to undertake discovery — meaning to obtain documents that aren’t available in the public realm. She feels the materials she’s seeking would be helpful in making her case.
Discovery is very limited in Article 78 proceedings.
She and her fellow petitioners are handling their suit pro se, without a lawyer representing them.
Their suit seeks to get the City Council’s approval of the Franklin Avenue Rezoning nullified and to make the developer do an assessment called an Environmental Impact Statement.
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BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — ‘A miracle that no one was killed …’ That’s what neighbors are saying about the collapse of the Hotel St. George marquee. Shown in this photograph are workmen beginning the removal and repair of the historic, old neon sign at the corner, referencing a relic of Brooklyn Heights’ past: the St. George Hotel.
ATLANTIC AVENUE — Exhausted shopper with cluster of bags and goods from mall at Boerum Place stops to look at huge construction site across the street. “Is that REALLY going to be a jail??” Her male companion is reassuring, “Nothing like Rikers … this is 21st Century.”
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Overheard in line at one of most popular pastry outlets on Montague Street: “Hope I can get them into a camp …” A mother with two pre-schoolers in tow was showing a friend the Dodge Y flyer for Healthy Kids Day on Saturday, April 18.
