Columbia Expansion Plans Step on Neighborhood Toes

The disclosure of an agreement between Columbia University and the Empire State Development Corp. on the possible condemnation of properties in West Harlem has ruptured relations between the university and community groups.

Columbia agreed last summer to pay all costs, including legal expenditures, incurred by the state development corporation if the corporation launched proceedings to condemn properties in an area where the university hopes to expand.

The university has sent the corporation $300,000, deposited into an interest-bearing account, which the corporation may tap into if it decides to use eminent domain to acquire properties occupied by businesses that are in the way of Columbia's planned expansion.

The agreement states Columbia is paying the costs "in order to induce the ESDC to perform the Public Party Work." The existence of the agreement, which was first reported by the Columbia Spectator student newspaper, has provoked a furious reaction from local community leaders, who have long expressed apprehension about Columbia's plans to develop the area.

The chairman of Community Board 9, Jordi Reyes-Montblanc, called Columbia's agreement "ugly." The board represents the area between the Hudson River and Morningside Drive, from 110th to 155th streets. "The consequence for Columbia is, now I don't trust them," Mr. Reyes-Montblanc said. "How could they enter an agreement without consulting the community?" he said. Columbia officials would like to win the community board's blessing for the university's expansion plans before moving ahead on the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, the first step toward gaining city approval.

Officials from both Columbia and the state development corporation said the agreement was a routine measure to keep alive the option of eminent domain.

"We have said repeatedly that the decision to use eminent domain is the state's, and we are not prepared to take the option off the table," a spokeswoman for the university, Liz Golden, said. "However, it remains a last resort." She said remitting the $300,000 is a "necessary and common practice."

A spokeswoman for the state development corporation, Deborah Wetzel, said in a statement, "In following our normal procedure, the University has paid ESDC $300,000 against expenses that may be incurred during this preliminary evaluation." She said the corporation has made no commitment on the issue of eminent domain.

Last April, Columbia announced preliminary plans to expand its 36-acre campus into West Harlem. The university, which has the smallest square footage-to-student ratio of the eight schools of the Ivy League, wants to develop a campus in an 18-acre industrial area bounded by 125th and 133rd streets, from Broadway to 12th Avenue. Columbia has said its $5 billion, 30-year expansion plans will fuel economic growth at West Harlem.

Columbia is said to own about 42% of the land in the expansion area and has been negotiating buyout and relocation deals with about 30 businesses there. Several of the business owners, which are represented by the attorney Norman Siegel, have said they refuse to move.

Mr. Siegel told The New York Sun the agreement between Columbia and the corporation is evidence the university is an "active participant" in the decision over eminent domain.

Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, has said publicly that the university does not wish for the development corporation to rule out eminent domain.