By BERNADETTE GIACOMAZZO
A 349-unit, $85 million rental complex, originally proposed by Chase Partners, will now be developed by AvalonBay Communities at 80-100 Banks Ave.
In its unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals ruled that the village "failed to provide a reasoned elaboration" in its objections to the proposed development. As a result, the project can begin after AvalonBay completes a cleanup of the now vacant property, a brownfield, which is expected to cost around $10 million.
"In our case, the judge made a specific finding of bad faith, which basically suggests to me that now the village has a double exposure," said Michael Faltischek, an attorney who represents the developers in a pending $25 million federal lawsuit against the village. "Not only can we go ahead with the project, but they have a significant exposure for damages because of the finding of bad faith." Faltischek explained that the developers' lawsuit alleges wrongful conduct by the village in causing a five-year project delay, and that the court's decision strengthens their case.
Village trustee Andrew Karamouzis, a longtime opponent of the development, said he believes that the appellate court's decision was misguided. "It was clear from the outset that the Signature Place project has been backed by very powerful political and finacial interests with considerable reach," Karamouzis said. "I am extremely disappointed by the court's decision and I firmly believe it was wrong."
The developers have a long and rancorous history with the village. In September 2007, the village board voted unanimously to appeal a decision by the state Supreme Court's Appellate Divison that gave the initial go-ahead to the development, then known as Signature Place and owned by Chase Partners. At the time, Supreme Court Judge Bruce D. Alpert found that the village trustees' impositions on the developer were "arbitrary and capricious." Alpert also found that the proposed Signature Place project complied with Rockville Centre zoning codes.
Last fall Chase Partners sold the vacant Banks Avenue property to AvalonBay Communities for $13.5 million, and assigned the contract for the development to AvalonBay. In January, the village board tried again to block the project. At the time, Trustee Jeanne Mulry claimed that AvalonBay did not have Rockville Centre's best interests in mind.
With all of the village's legal options now exhausted, Chairman of the Nassau County Planning Commission and former village Trustee and Chairman of the village Board of Appeals Jeff Greenfield said that the appellate court's ruling demonstrates that the board has pursued unnecessary and far too costly litigation. "Mulry and Karamouzis have cost the village hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees," Greenfield said. "Not only have we lost at every level of the courts, we have lost the ability to negotiate. We are now stuck with a 349-unit project ..."
"The decision to fight against this project, when there were opportunities to negotiate, was horribly ill-conceived," agreed former Trustee Wayne Lipton. "The trustees drove a process which continued to waste money, and cost the village hundreds of thousands of dollars in unnecesary legal fees. The trustees were extremely short-sighted in their refusal to settle before the village lost millions."
In a statement to the Herald, Mulry attributed the village's defeat to politics and characterized the developers as over-aggressive. "The Court of Appeals' refusal to accept our appeal demonstrates again that the January 2003 multifamily law was an invitation to disaster," Mulry said, referring to legislation that cleared the way for a multi-family development on the former Darby Drugs site. "At the time it was passed, I spoke out and urged that the Planning Board and residents be given more control. And, unfortunately, Signature Place, which was planned long before the January 2003 law was passed, took every advantage of the weakness of the law. From the day the law was passed, the village has been at the mercy of this over-aggressive developer."
The village has legal bills of $192,950 for fiscal year 2007 and $41,290 so far in 2008 in connection with its Signature Place litigation, according to Village Comptroller Michael Schussheim.
Other village officials declined to comment on the case.
Judy Rattner contributed to this story.
Comments about it? BGiacomazzo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 240.
