A state Supreme Court judge this week dismissed a lawsuit brought by Red
Hook community groups seeking to block construction of the city’s
first Ikea home furnishings big box store.
The suit had alleged that in granting approval for construction of the
346,000-square-foot store, the city illegally granted the company the
right to rezone — and build on — an active portion of the Red
Hook waterfront.
The decision was rendered Wednesday, June 22, by Manhattan civil court
Judge Karen Smith, who ruled that the project would occupy a site “in
large part, in disrepair and abandoned.”
“The bulkhead is crumbling, the piers are rotting, and neither the
dry docks, nor the gantry cranes are usable. The graving dock is usable
but underused,” Smith wrote in her decision. “Since at present
the site is not being operated efficiently as an industrial or maritime
area, the project cannot inhibit such operation.
“Whether any such operation could arise in the future is entirely
speculative.”
As to the petitioners’ argument that the state and city environmental
reviews of the project and site were inadequate, the judge ruled, “While
change is difficult, particularly where there is not a general consensus
among the persons to be affected by the change, the court cannot second-guess
the persons and or agencies who are trained and empowered to make such
decisions.”
In a May 26 court hearing, the Red Hook civic groups had argued that the
furniture giant was remiss in reporting the impact on traffic, pollution
and local business should the giant store be constructed on the 22-acre
former New York Shipyard site between Dwight and Columbia Streets along
the Erie Basin. It was filed by community organizations including the
Coalition to Revitalize Our Waterfronts Now (CROWN), and the Red Hook
Civic Association, and also included area residents as plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs had hoped to void the Environmental Impact Statement used
for the city review process and thus have sufficient grounds to overturn
the approvals granted by the City Planning Commission and City Council.
Ikea spokesman Joseph Roth said of the ruling, “We are pleased with
the court’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit against our project in
Red Hook, Brooklyn. Our case was extremely strong on the merits, and this
decision confirms our long-held belief that the new Ikea store will be
a beneficial addition to Brooklyn and the Red Hook community. The Ikea
proposal underwent an incredibly comprehensive review and received nearly
unanimous approvals at every stage of the land use process; a point which
was reinforced in the judge’s decision.”
Red Hook Ikea opponent Lou Sones, who is a neighborhood resident and member
of CROWN, said, “I’m obviously extremely disappointed. I was
also very surprised; I thought the case had tremendous merits.
“However, I’m not tearing what little hair I have left in my
head, because I’m convinced they’re not going to succeed in
that location. It’s a temporary nuisance,” Sones added.
Red Hook Civic Association Chairman John McGettrick, said Wednesday, “We
reserve our right to appeal and intend to continue our fight on the environmental
and historic preservation grounds. While we are disappointed, we are definitely
not defeated.”
