The fight to stop the Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards mega-development has moved to the courts.

On Wednesday, a coalition of Brooklyn block associations and landowners sued the developer and the state Economic Development Corporation, alleging that the state had no right to allow Ratner to demolish six buildings within the project’s footprint while his plans are still under environmental review — essentially, beginning work on the 24-acre development before officials approved it.

“We believe that the demolition of the buildings before the completion of the [environmental review] process is a violation of the law,” said Jeff Baker, attorney for the plaintiffs.

Baker said the demolition work will promote and predetermine the outcome of the environmental review.

ESDC, the project’s lead agency, greased up Ratner’s wrecking ball after the developer argued that the six buildings were on the verge of collapse — a position supported by LZA Engineers, a firm hired by Ratner.

The state approved the demolition on the grounds that such work is legal if the buildings present an imminent threat to public safety.
But the plaintiffs charge that said buildings are not a hazard, and that ESDC broke the law by relying solely on the LZA report.

In addition, the suit claims that ESDC’s approval of the demolition was compromised by the fact that the lawyer who approved the razing of the buildings had previously worked for Ratner.

“It is deeply troubling that the state agency charged with an objective review of the proposal is represented by Ratner’s lawyer; it throws the entire review process into question,” said Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) spokesperson Daniel Goldstein, who lives in a condo facing the rail yards that Ratner proposes to tear down to make way for his $3.5-billion arena, residential and commercial development.

Goldstein is a plaintiff in the case.

Baker, the DDB lawyer, said he has known the ESDC lawyer, David Paget, for decades in the close-knit cadre of environmental lawyers.

That’s why he was surprised when he discovered Paget, who had recently been Forest City Ratner’s lawyer, was suddenly working for the state.

Paget didn’t return calls from The Brooklyn Papers, and Forest City Ratner and the ESDC refused to comment on the Paget portion of the plaintiff’s suit.

The lawsuit came with ample warning. In December, City Councilmember Letitia James (D-Prospect Heights) asked Ratner to allow her to inspect — with her own engineer — the six buildings. The developer agreed – only to withdraw the invitation two days later.

The stand-off convinced Ratner opponents that the developer was trying to pull a fast one.

“If demolition is allowed to continue, community participation in the process will end because people will see the buildings come down and believe a decision has already been made,” said Candace Carpenter, a lawyer who is chair of DDDB’s legal committee.

“We have to fight this to protect the process.”

A spokeswoman for Forest City Ratner disagreed, saying that the demolitions have no larger significance, and that the developer is merely trying to protect public safety.

“We believe this suit is all about creating delay tactics,” the spokeswoman, Lupe Todd, said in a statement.

“LZA, one the city’s leading engineering firms, found these buildings to be ‘extremely dangerous’ and to pose an ‘immediate threat to life, health and property.’”

ESDC spokeswoman Deborah Wetzel said the agency will “vigorously defend the lawsuit.” She refused to comment on whether the state agency would review whether Paget violated any internal policies with his revolving door employment.

For one plaintiff in the suit, the legal battle against Ratner is personal.

Henry Weinstein, who owns a piece of land on which one of the six buildings sits, told The Brooklyn Papers that he joined the lawsuit simply “to prevent [Ratner] from violating my property and building his project on my property.” .

©2006 Community Newspaper Group