Judge rules housing plan for Elizabeth Street Garden would have "adverse impact" on surrounding environment
NEW YORK -- There is an ongoing battle over the Elizabeth Street Garden in Little Italy; an affordable housing development is proposed there, but those who want to keep the space as it is got a small victory Tuesday.
Elizabeth Street Garden sits between Prince and Spring streets. The green space, full of sculptures, trees and flowers, was created in 1991 on land leased from the city.
In 2013, it was opened to the public, but the city always maintained the site would need to return to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to become affordable housing.
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The Haven Green Project is a public-private partnership. The mixed-use development would include affordable housing for seniors and preserves about a third of the green space.
But on Tuesday, a state supreme court judge vacated and annulled the city's "negative declaration" that said the project would have no negative impact on the surrounding area's environment, writing, "The reduction in open space ratios is sufficient to indicate the presence of a significant adverse impact."
It's a victory for the garden's supporters.
"This gives us some time. It gives us some space," one supporter said. "It's not over. The fight is definitely continuing, and the city will fight hard."
The group has suggested 388 Hudson St. instead; it's a city-owned gravel lot.
"When you have built every square foot of concrete with affordable housing, then come back to open green space, but before you do that, no. Keep that open green space," said Norman Siegel, an attorney for the Elizabeth Street Garden.
HPD released a statement that reads:
"This decision is disappointing and we will be appealing it. This decision further delays 123 deeply affordable apartments that our seniors have already been waiting on for nearly seven years. With 100,000 seniors currently waiting for access to affordable homes, we cannot allow a small number of anti-housing voices to continue standing in the way of projects our city so desperately needs. We stand by our environmental reviews, we are determined to bring Haven Green to this site, and we will pursue every avenue available to ensure that happens."
Supporters of the garden want the mayor and HPD commissioner to meet with them to reconsider and come up with another solution.