This from New York 1:
Those who oppose the new Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn now have some extra time to voice their concerns.
At a public hearing last week, many of the people who oppose the
project said they didn’t have enough time to review the 4,000 page
proposal.The Empire State Development Corporation announced Thursday that
the public comment period will be extended an extra week to September
29th.After the public comment period ends, the plan will go before the
Development Corporation for a vote before going to the Public Authority
Control Board, the same board that killed the proposed West Side
stadium plan.The $4.2-billion project would redevelop 22 acres over and around
the MTA rail yards in Brooklyn, including a new basketball arena for
the New Jersey Nets.
Don’t be taken in by the spin. The reason that they ESDC had to extend the comment period by a mere seven days was that they scheduled another “community forum” and accidentally ran afoul with the State’s Environmental Review Law.
DDDB’s lawyer, Jeff Baker, sent a letter explaining that legally the additional “community forum” walked and squawked like a “public hearing” and therefore, in accordance to law, the public comment period must be held open for 10 days after the last public hearing, oops we meant “community forum.”
Two days after the letter was sent and released to the public, the ESDC caved.
See NoLandGrab for Brooklyn Papers coverage and DDDB’s letter.