Description: Lawsuit challenging New York City’s approval of a resiliency plan for the Lower East Side that involved elevating an existing park on the East River by eight feet to serve as a barrier to coastal storms and flooding.
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East River Park Action v. City of New York
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 11/30/2021 Opinion Download Denial of petition affirmed. New York Appellate Court Said Resiliency Project Constituted “Park Purpose” and Did Not Require State Approval. The New York Appellate Division rejected a challenge to a project intended to protect East River Park and nearby neighborhoods from flood risk due to coastal storms and sea level rise. The project would require the “full reconstruction and reconfiguration of the Park,” raising its elevation by eight to nine feet and installing a below-grade flood protection structure. The court held that this project served a “park purpose” and therefore did not require alienation of parkland that would require approval of the New York State Legislature under the public trust doctrine. The court rejected the petitioners’ position that the project did not serve a park purpose because it would also provide benefits to surrounding communities. The court also found that the potential availability of “better, less intrusive” methods to provide flood protection did not implicate the public trust doctrine. In addition, the court rejected the contention that the “lengthy park closures” required for construction of the project would themselves constitute an alienation of parkland. -
East River Park Action v. City of New York
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 08/20/2020 Order Download Petition denied. New York Court Rejected Challenge to Plan to Elevate East River Park in Manhattan. A New York trial court rejected a public trust doctrine challenge to New York City’s resiliency plan for the Lower East Side that involved elevating an existing park on the East River by eight feet to serve as a barrier to coastal storms and flooding. In a decision announced from the bench, the court found that although the plan involved a “substantial intrusion,” the intrusion was for a park purpose and the public trust doctrine was not implicated. The court indicated that the record supported the conclusion “that without this plan we will likely not even have a park at all” due to climate change. The court also found that any “danger” of the City not restoring the entire park and using a portion for non-park purposes was “speculation.” 08/20/2020 Transcript Download Hearing held. 02/06/2020 Petition Download Petition filed. Lawsuit Filed Challenging City’s Approval of Lower Manhattan Resiliency Project. Residents of the East Village and the Lower East Side of Manhattan, along with local organizations, filed a lawsuit challenging New York City’s approval of a resiliency plan for the Lower East Side that involved elevating an existing park on the East River by eight feet to serve as a barrier to coastal storms and flooding. The petitioners contended that closing a portion of the park for several years to build the barrier constituted use of parkland for a non-park purpose and that ”recreating a park on top of a seawall is sugar-coating a non-park purpose.” The petitioners asserted that the City therefore violated the public trust doctrine by failing to obtain the New York State legislature’s approval for the non-park use of the land.