A state Supreme Court justice denied an application submitted by the Village of Floral Park and local civic groups in an attempt to overturn state approvals granted for the development of the Belmont Arena, the future home to the New York Islanders.
According to court filings available on the village’s website, Justice Roy S. Mahon denied the village’s application and granted the dismissal of the legal action against the New York State Franchise Oversight Board on Tuesday, May 12.
“…although the Court recognized the Village of Floral Park’s “legitimate concerns” with the scope of the Belmont Project and the Belmont Project’s impact on the Village’s residents, the Court determined that it may not “substitute its judgment “ for the judgment of the Empire State Development Corp.,” Floral Park Mayor Dominick Longobardi said in a statement.
Kevin Fitzgerald, Floral Park’s deputy mayor, shared Longobardi’s sentiment of disappointment and said representatives from the Empire State Development did not publicly answer questions or concerns from the public.
“When a new business or restaurant comes to present something to [the village trustees], there are many questions and concerns brought up by the public and then addressed by the presenter,” Fitzgerald said. “[Empire State Development] did not handle this properly, when they knew issues were out in the open.”
Fitzgerald, who has served as a village trustee since 2011, said the village will use “all resources available” to mitigate any concerns that the arena may have in store for its immediate neighboring properties, such as their police force.
Eric Gertler, the acting commissioner and president for Empire State Development, said the project will be a much-needed source for employment in a time where unemployment has reached record-highs throughout the nation.
“Earlier this week, both lawsuits against the Belmont Park Redevelopment Project were wholly dismissed, representing a decisive victory for smart economic development and validating ESD’s rigorous environmental review and robust public engagement process,” Gertler said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing this project, which will deliver thousands of jobs and billions in economic activity to the downstate region — which are needed now more than ever.”
The village has a history of opposition to the project, which includes a 19,000-seat arena for the New York Islanders, 350,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, a hotel containing 250 rooms, and parking on 43 acres of vacant state-owned property at Belmont Park.
Floral Park filed a lawsuit in September asking a judge to overturn all approvals, stop construction on the site and restart the environmental review process.
In January, Fitzgerald said, the village had obtained documents showing that state officials had no intention of taking local concerns into account in the Belmont Park development project.
According to the documents that were acquired by the village under the Freedom of Information Law, a “master plan” for the Belmont Arena project was discussed by developers two years before the state issued a request for the redevelopment of the property, he said.
In documents filed in the lawsuit, the village called the public bidding process “flawed” and the environmental review “inadequate” and said the project did not mitigate negative impacts on the village.
In a statement, Fitzgerald said the newly obtained documents supported the village’s contention that the process undertaken by Empire State Development, the state agency in charge of the project, was a show to hide a predetermined outcome. A spokesman for Empire State Development rejected the argument.
The spokesperson said Empire State Development abandoned its first request for proposals in December 2016 and subsequently issued a second one a year later in July.
They also said that Empire State Development followed “an independent, competitive process” and that the arena proposal was chosen because it scored the highest of the three responses.
“We’re making progress towards a safe reopening, and outdoor construction projects like Belmont will be key to getting us on the road to economic recovery,“ Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said.
Fitzgerald said he did not know what, if any, legal challenges the village could follow with.
