NEW YORK CITY — Housing developers who had planned to build affordable housing on the lot that houses the Elizabeth Street Garden have sued Mayor Eric Adams’ administration after it designated the garden as parkland.
Developers behind the proposed Haven Green project, Pennrose, RiseBoro Community Partnership and Habitat for Humanity New York City and Westchester, filed a lawsuit in Manhattan supreme court on Wednesday.
They are seeking to overturn the administration’s parkland decision and argue they subverted the city’s land use process “entirely and illegally,” according to the complaint.
The lawsuit claims that First Deputy Randy Mastro was influenced by his “decades-long relationship” with Norman Siegel, a lawyer representing advocates for the garden, to go ahead with the parkland plan.
“This proceeding arises from an extraordinary act of executive overreach: a last-minute, unilateral attempt by Mayor Eric Adams and his senior aides, in the waning days of their administration, to nullify more than a decade of public process, democratic decision-making, and lawful land-use approvals in order to reward political allies and entrench a favored constituency,” the developers contend in the suit.
Mastro in a statement to Patch said that the administration is committed to ensuring Elizabeth Street Garden remains a “beloved community park.”
“Designating this space as parkland will make the park fully accessible to the public while also allowing us to allocate Parks Department resources to the garden. It is unfortunate that these developers have now brought a frivolous lawsuit to try to leverage a better deal in negotiations with the city,” he added. “The city has followed all proper procedures to designate this site as parkland, and this is a meritless lawsuit that does not have New Yorkers’ best interest in mind.”
The garden has faced a years-long eviction battle. Multiple celebrities including Robert De Niro and Patti Smith called for the garden to be saved, while housing advocates want more senior affordable apartments.
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