Gowanus 'Voice' Emerges With Murky Legal Claims

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — A longtime "voice" against the impending Gowanus rezoning plan has filed an injunction request in order to appeal the denial of a previous legal strategy to fight the area's rezoning, according to an announcement last week.

The group, Voice of Gowanus, says that they are appealing the denial of their Article 78 petition to annul the Gowanus rezoning.

"We maintain that without an injunction irreparable harm to the Gowanus community will occur before the appeal is heard," the group said on Thursday.

A longtime foe of the rezoning plan, the group says its injunction, which all 104 pages of can be found here, will "prevent further construction activity and related toxic releases and exposure, until the court can rule on the flawed Environmental Impact Statement."

The original suit — filed in February by longtime project opponents, including Voice of Gowanus and Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus — argued that the city flouted laws and produced a flawed environmental review of the rezoning.

Last July, a Brooklyn judge dismissed the suit, stating that the case wasn't supported by "any factual or legal arguments."

"[The City] reasonably concluded that the Rezoning would not result in any major adverse environmental impact based on its comprehensive and thorough review," wrote Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Consuelo Mallafre Melendez in the court decision last July.

"Our concerns did not get their full day in court," Martín Bisi, a group member and Gowanus small business owner, told Patch last July. "Voice of Gowanus continues to review its full range of legal options."

Richard Lippes, the lead consul in the case, said the city "believes they are above the law, and can act with impunity when they fail to comply with Federal and New York State environmental laws and orders."

The rezoning, which is moving full steam ahead, will bring about 8,000 new apartments and potentially 10's of thousands of new residents across the 82 block area.

In October, the city announced the Gowanus Rezoning Oversight Task Force to oversee accountability during the massive redevelopment.

Update: the article originally stated that the injunction was rejected for corrections. The injunction was resubmitted and accepted by the court shortly after publication and the story has been updated.