Queens-led coalition files lawsuit against City of Yes
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A coalition of groups around the city filed a lawsuit this week against the controversial City of Yes plan. Councilmembers David Carr, Vickie Paldino, Joann Ariola and Bob Holden, as well as mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, city planner Paul Graziano and civic leader Phyllis Inserillo are among the lawsuit’s supporters. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
A Queens-led coalition of lawmakers and civic groups on Wednesday sued Mayor Eric Adams in an effort to stop the implementation of the City of Yes, the city’s largest zoning overhaul in decades which stands to serve as a major marker of Adams’ time in office, should it stand.
On Tuesday, elected officials and civic groups from around the city, including many from Queens, filed a lawsuit in opposition to the controversial City of Yes plan, which they claim was passed in violation of environmental law.
The main target of the lawsuit, the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, was passed after a tighter-than-usual vote in the City Council in December, which advocates hope will open the door for much-needed housing across the city by overhauling the city’s zoning laws for the first time in more than half a century.
However, opponents of the plan, including a plethora of lawmakers and advocates in Queens, have argued it will be an apocalyptic scenario for the city’s suburban-esque communities, and are now fulfilling a promise to challenge the City of Yes in court.
“The City of Yes is a disaster and a calamity for our city area, it is a destructive force solely for the creation of luxury housing and market-rate housing for developers, it's really that simple,” said Queens city planner Paul Graziano, one of the loudest opponents of COY and a main proponent of the lawsuit.
“We have an extremely good case of overturning this terrible proposal that, again, doesn't do what it's supposed to do or what it purports to do,” he said. “It just creates a ‘Wild West’ situation that does not deal with the actual outcomes.”
While opponents to the City of Yes have consistently made policy arguments against the law – many of which were reiterated on the steps of City Hall on Wednesday – the lawsuit targets the assertion that the city failed to adhere to environmental law when creating and passing City of Yes.
The lawsuit alleges the city, by way of the Department of City Planning, City Hall and the City Council, failed to take a “hard look” at environmental concerns of their plan without providing alternatives or plans for mitigation.
“Respondents failed to take ‘any’ look at significant areas of environmental concern, failed to look at the cumulative impacts of the combined phases of City of Yes and failed to offer mitigation and reasonable alternatives that would serve to reduce major areas of adverse and significant negative environmental consequences,” the lawsuit reads.
The plaintiffs in the case are being represented by Jack Lester, a prominent lawyer who also represented New Jersey in its case against congestion pricing.
“The City Planning Commission and the Department of City Planning completely abrogated all the terms of the environmental laws of the state of New York,” he said Wednesday. “They refused to offer any viable, reasonable alternatives that would have provided basic mitigation for many of the negative, adverse environmental consequences of City of Yes, on low density neighborhoods on air and light on open space on community facilities.”
Lester also added that while the main target of the lawsuit is the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity – which includes the controversial zoning overhaul – should a judge rule in their favor, it will also strike down the other two parts of City of Yes, including the City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality and City of Yes for Economic Opportunity.
Carbon Neutrality concerns the city’s zoning regulations and supporting climate goals, and Economic Opportunity was created with the goal of expanding small business via zoning laws.
On Wednesday, officials who have long opposed City of Yes echoed their arguments against the controversial plan, including their assertion that an increase in development will overwhelm public infrastructure.
The City of Yes was opposed outright by 11 of Queens’ 14 Community Boards, and several Queens councilmembers voted against it.
“The lawsuit we filed today makes it clear that not only did the city lie to all of us, it broke the law in the process,” said Queens Councilmember and Republican Minority Leader Joann Ariola.
Ariola was joined by fellow Common Sense Caucus members and Queens representatives Bob Holden and Vickie Paladino.
“This is a battleground in our neighborhoods…but we will win this because we are right,” Holden said. “We have the right to feel the sun in our backyards, because we chose that when we bought our homes, we said we want to have sun, we don't want to have skyscrapers, we're not Manhattan.”
City Hall officials defended what could be as Mayor Eric Adams’ trademark policy following the lawsuit’s filing.
“The Adams administration’s historic 'City of Yes for Housing Opportunity' plan is the most pro-housing zoning proposal in New York City history,” a City Hall spokesperson said. “It is game-changing work that will deliver unprecedented, equitable change to our housing crisis by building more housing in every neighborhood, creating 80,000 new homes over the next 15 years, and investing $5 billion toward critical improvements. When it comes to housing, there will always be those who say, 'Not in my backyard,' but we stand by the city's thorough and transparent review process and will address any lawsuit when it is received.”
The case was filed in Staten Island.
The City of Yes opponents have a big legal bill ahead of them, one that they are only about a third of the way to producing, according to Graziano.
Currently, the coalition has around $21,000 from a GoFundMe fundraiser, and an additional $65,000 from civic organizations.
“We need $250,000, so what a third of the way,” Graziano said. “We've been doing it for three months, raising the money as we go.”
