Lawsuit Over Crown Heights Zoning Study Thrown Out

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn judge has dismissed a lawsuit that attempted to block a Crown Heights Community Board's requested zoning study.

Community Board 9 Chair Musa Moore told board members of the decision on Thursday. The lawsuit had been brought by Movement To Protect The People, an advocacy group in the neighborhood that fights development and gentrification.

In 2015, CB9 — which represents south Crown Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Wingate and north Flatbush— wrote a letter to the City Planning Commission asking for a zoning study in the neighborhood. The board was interested in downzoning to preserve parts of the neighborhood while upzoning others, which could give way to more development.

MTOPP said the letter was drafted in secret and warned that once a zoning study is approved, it would start an unstoppable process that would significantly change the neighborhood, despite it having to go through the city's lengthy land-use review process, known as ULURP.

The group also said that some board members had been appointed illegally. The lawsuit said MTOPP members had not been allowed to voice their opinions about the letter during committee meetings.

Judge Wayne Saitta dismissed all of those claims in a ruling last month.

"Drafting the letter 'in secret', that is, not in an open meeting, is not improper so long as the letter is discussed and voted upon by the Board at a public meeting of the Board," he wrote.

He said that, while the claims of a foregone conclusion in the ULURP process may have merit, that's an issue for lawmakers to decide, not the court.

Saitta also noted that the city requires a public comment period at monthly board meetings but not during committee meetings.

"The overall feeling of the board would be that we’re happy that these issues were settled," Warren Berke, Community Board 9's treasurer and executive committee member who was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, told Patch.

"And we now have definition for the open meeting law for both committee and board meetings. And we’d like to move forward in an inclusive, civil manner."

Berke said the request to the City Planning Commission has been on hold since the lawsuit was filed but can now go forward.

Musa Moore, the chair of Community Board 9, echoed Berke's sentiments.

"This is a community board that represents this community," Moore told Patch.

"There’s nothing to hide, there’s nothing underhanded. All you have is, unfortunately, some who do not want to work together for the improvement of this community. I'm thankful, and the board is thankful, that the judge not only agreed with us but agreed with us on every single claim and allegation that was made."

He added: "We can accomplish so much more if we work together, instead of running to sue each other because one person sneezes differently than another."

In an email to board members, Moore wrote, "Once again the judge has ruled in our favor on every claim. Together we are moving in the right direction and I look forward to our future."

Janine Nichols, a plaintiff in the case and MTOPP member, said she was not aware of the decision when reached by Patch, but added, "Obviously, I'm not happy about it."

You can read the judge's decision below:

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