The Village of Floral Park has filed a lawsuit to halt the Islanders’ development project at Belmont Park.
The suit was filed on Monday in state Supreme Court looking for “judicial review of the approval by Empire State Development Corporation” for the $1.3 billion redevelopment plan, according to Newsday. The lawsuit comes as the Mayor of Floral Park, Dominick Longobardi, is set to meet with Governor Cuomo’s office and the developers of the Belmont project next week.
That meeting is still on the books, according to Newsday’s Jim Baumbach.
Longobardi said the meeting Monday with state budget director and project developers is still on. "We decided we should do everything we think necessary to protect the village," he told Newsday Tuesday. "We will be at the meeting and hope it's productive." https://t.co/HgTDVaO6l2
— Jim Baumbach (@jimbaumbach) September 10, 2019
The village has been an outspoken critic of the project, which they say will negatively impact their community. Among the concerns they rais are, the influx of traffic to the area, the new LIRR station that will be built as part of the project, and the possibilities of Floral Park becoming a “soft target” for terrorism among other reason.
The lawsuit is asking a judge to halt all work at the site and annul all approvals, according to Baumbach.
The basis of the lawsuit is this —> Floral Park believes that plans they uncovered (via a FOIL) that show NYRA had drawn up plans for an Isles arena at Belmont before any RFP raise questions about the legitimacy of ESD's subsequent public bidding process for Belmont land.
— Jim Baumbach (@jimbaumbach) September 10, 2019
Lawsuit contends ESD failed in its environmental review by ignoring traffic concerns, not considering project alternatives, disregarding public criticism of project size, going too far in zoning overrides and by making this project separate from NYRA's own redevelopment plans.
— Jim Baumbach (@jimbaumbach) September 10, 2019
Oh, and there's this accusation: NINTH CAUSE OF ACTION (DECLARATORY JUDGMENT):
ESD VIOLATED NEW YORK STATE LAW BY ENGAGING IN AN RFP PROCESS WITH A PREDETERMINED OUTCOME— Jim Baumbach (@jimbaumbach) September 10, 2019
Lawsuit asks a judge to:
-annul all approvals
-start the environmental review process over with respect to the changes to the plans (new LIRR station)— Jim Baumbach (@jimbaumbach) September 10, 2019
The Belmont redevelopment received final approvals last month and the Islanders indicated there would be a groundbreaking ceremony after labor day in an email to fans.
After the final approvals were given, the village indicated that legal options were on the table to halt the project.
“The village was compelled to take this step because ESD failed to address the concerns of our residents and failed to mitigate the very real consequences to our village that will result from the massive size and scope of the project,” Floral Park Mayor Dominick Longobardi said in a newsletter to residents.
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