City Sued In Effort To Protect Elizabeth Street Garden

LITTLE ITALY, NY — After months of hinting at a legal battle, two groups are filing lawsuits over the controversial affordable senior housing project that would require razing the Elizabeth Street Garden.

The Elizabeth Street Garden, a group formed to protect the greenspace, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Department of Housing Preservation and Development in Manhattan's Supreme Court, arguing a heftier environmental review — called an environmental impact statement (EIS) — needs to be carried out before the housing project can progress.

The non-profit group Friends of Elizabeth Street Garden announced a separate lawsuit on Wednesday, arguing the project should require an EIS and claiming that an already completed environmental assessment statement that found no adverse impacts to the neighborhood is bunk.

The lawsuits may come as no surprise to anyone following the development of the senior housing project dubbed Haven Green at Elizabeth Street Garden. The groups have hinted at lawsuits for months.

The city's environmental review "ignores the elephant in the room," Joseph Reiver, executive director of Elizabeth Street Garden, told Patch. "It's so clear that they're trying to avoid the truth of the matter."

In partnership with Pennrose Properties and RiseBoro Community Partnership, Habitat for Humanity has proposed replacing the garden with 123 low-income senior housing units with some set aside for formerly homeless individuals, 6,700 square feet of green space, 4,000 square feet of commercial space and 11,000 square feet for community facilities and Habitat's offices. HPD is overseeing the project.

The project is making its way through the uniform land use review procedure (ULURP) and was approved by Borough President Gale Brewer last week.

City Council, however, will have a final say, with the pivotal vote in Councilmember Margaret Chin's hands. She supports Habitat's housing proposal.

The open space on the site would be reduced to a little more than one-quarter of the existing 20,000-square-foot Elizabeth Street Garden under the current design.

In hopes of preserving the entire garden, the Elizabeth Street Garden's suit alleges the city did not look closely enough in its environmental review at neighborhood character and historic and cultural resources, as required by the city and state environmental review regulations.

An EIS is "absolutely required to address these issues and to take a hard look at significant environmental concerns," Kate Fletcher, co-counsel with Norman Siegel representing the Elizabeth Street Garden, told Patch. "We believe there are significant adverse environmental impacts associated with the destruction of the garden."

A Law Department spokesperson said: "HPD stands by its review of a project which is expected to create more affordable housing. We will review the lawsuit when we are served."

The Friends group announced its separate lawsuit against the city on Wednesday and expects to file shortly.

Similar to the Elizabeth Street Garden's lawsuit, the Friends' lawsuit aim to halt the ongoing uniform land use review procedure (ULURP) until an environmental impact statement is completed and save the garden in its entirety.

"The city talks of preserving public open spaces, but it must act," Friends' counsel Michael Gruen said in a statement.

Haven Green opponents and Gruen argue the garden's demolition would reduce open space in an area already under-served.

The Friends' lawsuit will include co-plaintiffs Assemblymembers Deborah Glick and Yuh-Line Niou.

"Our community severely lacks green space," Niou said in a statement. "Lower Manhattan is in need of affordable housing, but we cannot pit the need for housing against the need for green space, especially when good alternatives are available. Both are vital and both are in dire need of protection and expansion."

Garden-backers have demanded the city to consider a separate, city-owned empty lot for affordable housing — where the city has long-promised to implement a separate open space.

"The city has a win-win opportunity: save the beloved Garden — the only green space in our neighborhood — and build up to give times as much affordable housing at the nearby [Community Board 2]-supported alternative site, a city-owned gravel-lot at 388 Hudson St.," Jeannine Kiely, president of Friends, said in a statement, referencing CB 2's resolution regarding the project. She likened the proposal to a similar "swap" in Chelsea.

HPD has previously said both sites at the garden and Hudson St. are being eyed for additional affordable housing to mitigate the city's affordability crisis.

Reiver echoed Kiely, saying, "This is something that can be solved with the alternative site."

"That solution really achieves more affordable housing and more green space, and it doesn't pit these two communities against each other," he said.