Legal Complaint

On October 9, 2009, the DUMBO Neighborhood Foundation (DNF), a non-profit group formed in 2007 by neighborhood residents, filed a lawsuit to reverse zoning changes it believes were wrongfully approved by the New York City Council and to halt the so-called Dock Street Project, a controversial mixed-use project in the historic DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. The Dock Street Project, if built, would include a 17-story tower that would severely impact views of and from the landmark Brooklyn Bridge and cause irreparable damage to the DUMBO neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.

The legal complaint (click here to review complaint) is twofold: 

1) the misinterpretation and misapplication of zoning laws which led to the erroneous granting of zoning changes and waivers;

2) City agencies, particularly the Dept. of Education (DOE) and the School Construction Authority (SCA), failed to fulfill their legal obligations to conduct a full, fair and objective: (a) examination of the appropriateness of including a middle school as part of this project; (b) comparison of alternative middle school sites.

Misapplication of Zoning Laws

Attorneys for DNF thoroughly highlight the many deficiencies with the rezoning process and ardently uphold that these zoning changes should immediately be invalidated based on the rule of law.  The basis for such judicial action should be based on:

  1. Improperly identifying the parcels included in the Dock Street Actions as a General Large Scale Development and basing a number of Special Permits on such designation; (1)
  2. Failing to recognize that the parcels come within the scope of the Waterfront Regulations and failing to obtain the required certification; (2)
  3. Irrationally rezoning the Dock Street Project to a non-contextual zone (M1-2/R8);
  4. Attempting to address the potential environmental impacts in an Environmental Assessment Statement, rather than an Environmental Impact Statement.  The later requires public review and comment, and was utilized in the 2004 application by Two Trees, which they withdrew;
  5. Failing to adequately address the potential environmental impacts of the project and improperly relying upon data obtained in other projects which are not comparable.

Failure of City Agencies

Over the six-month land use review process leading up to the City Council’s vote, Two Trees and officials from the SCA repeatedly endorsed the Dock Street Project as an appropriate site for a new middle school.  But uncovered documents (view complete FOIL documents by clicking here), released in response to freedom-of-information requests, reveal that:

  • Contrary to numerous representations by SCA officials, the Dock Street Project site was not chosen on the basis of a full, fair and objective site selection process required by law. SCA officials failed to consider alternative sites for a new District 13 (our district) middle school and they themselves have even stated that Dock Street is an inferior site. 
  • The failure of the DOE and the SCA to adequately consider the environmental impact of the project, as required by law, and despite warnings by their internal architect warning that the project would expose school children to serious environment hazards including traffic congestion and air pollution.
  • Officials from the SCA and the DOE, in collusion with Two Trees, a private developer, engaged in a systematic and lengthy effort, often filled with misrepresentations, to advance the re-zoning application for the Dock Street Project – which made the selection of the Dock Street site a foregone conclusion at the expense of New York City schoolchildren, taxpayers and to the detriment of the historic DUMBO neighborhood.

The lawsuit was filed in Supreme Court, Kings County and the named defendants include The City of New York, New York City Department of City Planning, City Planning Commission, New York City Council, DOE, SCA and Two Trees.  The filing of the lawsuit received broad support from elected officials and others who have long expressed concerns about the Dock Street Project including former Councilman David Yassky, Councilman Stephen Levin, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and State Senator Daniel Squadron.

On December 18, 2009, DNF filed a Petitioners’ Memorandum of Law further clarifying our position (click here to view).

(1,2)  The approval of the zoning changes and variances requested in the application submitted by Two Trees for the Dock Street project was predicated on the claim that the project is a General Large Scale Development (GLSD). To meet the minimum acreage requirement for a GLSD classification, an area of at least 1.5 acres, Two Trees included a lot that it owns but which, by its own admission, is unrelated to the Dock Street development, the Galapagos Art Space.  Moreover, because of the location of this lot, its inclusion as part of the development, should have resulted in the application of the special bulk regulations of the Zoning Resolutions of the City of New York at Article VI, Chapter II, entitled “Special Regulations Applying in the Waterfront Area.”   Thus, either way, with or without this lot, the Two Trees application did not qualify for the Bulk Special Permit which was approved.  Additionally, in order to meet the 1.5 acre requirement, Two Trees included 85 Water Street (Almondine Bakery) and 66 Water Street (Jacque Torres & Water St. Bar).  Two Trees application specifically acknowledges that those buildings will not be altered, and can’t be altered because they are landmarked; thus, they do not in any way “contribute”  to the new development, a stipulated requirement of the GLSD zoning law, and therefore should not be used to calculate the 1.5 minimum acre requirement necessary to qualify for a GLSD.  When Galapagos Arts Space, 85 Water Street and 66 Water Street are stripped from the calculation, the Dock St. development measures a mere 0.8 acres, far less than the 1.5 acres necessary to be granted zoning changes and variances under GLSD.