Judges To Decide if Agency Can Rehire Lawyer Banned From Atlantic Yards Project
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Judges will soon decide whether the state’s development agency can rehire an environmental lawyer who was banned from the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn by a lower court judge because of an apparent conflict of interest.
Yesterday, lawyers for opponents of the Atlantic Yards project, the state development agency, and the developer, Forest City Ratner, made their arguments to a panel of judges at the Appellate Court in Manhattan.
The lawyer in question, David Paget, worked for Forest City Ratner on the Brooklyn project for more than a year before the state hired him as an outside counsel to shepherd the application through the environmental review process.
The state’s lawyer, Douglas Kraus, said yesterday that Mr. Paget’s role with the state would not include decision-making, and that opponents could challenge the state on its final determination on the project, but not on whom it hires as a lawyer.
A lawyer for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, Jeffrey Baker, asked the court to uphold Mr. Paget’s ban, saying doing so would serve to regain the public’s trust in the state review process.
One judge said Mr. Paget’s dual roles gave the appearance of impropriety but on a deeper level might not be a conflict of interest. Another judge said the more appropriate forum for a challenge by opponents would come after the state’s decision.
After the hearing, Mr. Paget told reporters: “We’re lawyers. We abide by the law.”
The developer is seeking to build a basketball arena, about 16 predominantly residential towers, and a hotel on a 22-acre site in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, for about $3.5 billion. Opponents claim the project, which will likely invoke eminent domain, is out of scale with the neighborhood. Proponents, who include the mayor and the governor, cite job creation and economic growth.
Pending the outcome of the case, the state has hired a “provisional counsel” to avoid any delay on the project.
Developer Bruce Ratner recently said he expects the state to approve the project by this fall and for construction to begin soon afterward.
