WHITE PLAINS, NY — New York State Supreme Court Justice Charles D. Wood has today dismissed a lawsuit filed by Dennis Starr and Robert Boddie, Sr., ostensibly on behalf of “the veterans” against the City of New Rochelle, Twinings Properties, LCC, and Letitia James as Attorney General of the State of New York.
DECISION & ORDER INDEX NO. 61010/2019
In his decision, Justice Wood, found that the various causes of action were either premature, without merit or foundation or barred.
Regarding the Attorney General of the State of New York, Wood found that as New York State or the Legislature must approve any development plans for the Armory that would implicate the restrictive covenant, any such approval would constitute a final legislative or agency action that could be challenged in court and as that had not happened yet the action was premature. Further, Wood found that as New York State or the Legislature must approve any development plans for the Armory that would in any way alienate its use as parkland it was premature of bring an action against New York State.
Regarding Defendant City of New Rochelle, Wood found that three of the six causes of action against the City were tort-based breach of fiduciary duty claims and that the plaintiffs had not served the City with a notice of claim as required by Section 50-e of the General Municipal Law, the First, Fifth, and Sixth causes of action are procedurally barred and must therefore be dismissed. Regarding the other causes of action, Wood found that as the transfer of the Armory Property is conditioned upon receiving approval therefrom by New York State, which has not been accomplished yet, the plaintiffs’ assertion that the restrictive covenant has been violated by a transfer of the Armory Property to a private party fails. The court also agreed with the City that the obligation to improve and maintain the Armory Premises for “park, recreation, street, and highway purposes” flows not to plaintiffs, but rather to the State of New York.
Regarding Twinings Properties, Wood found that plaintiffs incorrectly claimed that Twining is a party to the Land Development Agreement when the actual parties to the LDA are the City of New Rochelle and Pratt Landing Partners. As a result the plaintiffs do not have standing for their cause of action.
Regardless of the Motion to Dismiss, executives from Pratt Landing Partners, the special purpose company set up by Twinings Properties to develop waterfront property in New Rochelle, submitted a letter to the City’s Veterans Advisory Committee promising to deliver on terms agreed to in front of New York State Supreme Court Judge Charles Wood.
- The entire Armory building will be preserved.
- A minimum of 3.5 acres of publicly available open space will be provided.
- 2,000 to 4,000 square feet of office space (plus parking) will be set aside in the Annex building for use by Veterans Services Organizations.
Statements
City of New Rochelle:
We are pleased with the decision.
Office of New York State Attorney General Letitia James
Our office will let the decision stand for itself.
Plaintiff Dennis Starr:
The decision states that the lawsuit is premature because the developer has not secured approvals from NYS OGS and/or the legislature to convert the people’s parkland into a commercial for-profit development.
As a result of the lawsuit, the property which was formerly used as a garbage dump has been cleaned up, the developer has committed to preserve the entire building including the annex portion, there is the installation of a new roof, which had virtually collapsed, the developer agreed to set aside space in the building for Veterans and the court said that the City and developer had to obtain approval from NYS first prior to using the parkland. These are major accomplishments.
The court also stated that the plaintiffs could refile their case if and when approvals were granted.
There is also no prohibition against the plaintiffs and others in the community from opposing the project as it winds its way through the various approval processes. We understand that there is no formal presentation to the City at this time that includes a site plan for the project and that the area would need to be rezoned to accommodate the developer’s latest renderings.
Therefore, we will be watching next steps by the developer very closely
American Legion Post 8 Commander Peter Polous:
It was still a Win for the Veterans. Many things that were wanted were agreed to. The key was the Preservation of the Armory Building itself. As I mentioned in my experiences in my hometown which were minimized in some ways by you and a few others. It may have been some years ago far away but the message of Historical Preservation, or for the original intent of a place is still important.
The veterans won because:
1. The Armory was cleaned up at the beginning of the lawsuit;
2. The developer agreed to preserve the Armory in the latest proposal unlike the first proposal which included a destruction of the annex;
3. The developer agreed to give the veterans space in the Armory; and
4. The court said that the City and Developer had to get approval from the State first prior to using the parkland.
5. There is no prohibition against anyone from publicly objecting to any proposal put forth by Twining to the City, County, OGS or the Legislature.
New Rochelle Veterans Advisory Council President Brett Morash:
New Rochelle and Twining have made it very clear that they do not intend for the Armory to simply remain as an overlooked and unutilized relic while they rehabilitate the surrounding area. It has been made crystal clear that the developer has made a commitment to the veteran community to provide a vibrant and active armory as previously reported. Testament to that fact is the over $2M in stabilization efforts by the developer as well as the cleanup that proceeded despite the lawsuit looming over the project as well as a written pledge to the veterans. There are numerous serious issues affecting New Rochelle’s veterans community and now we can gain more focus on those including suicide prevention, homelessness, employment, and benefits; and not playing politics with the Armory.
Twinings Properties VP Philip Wharton:
We are extremely pleased with Judge Wood’s decision. We made it clear that we intended to preserve and beautify the Armory as well as provide a home for organizations serving the veterans community. We made that commitment numerous times during settlement discussions and have no intention of doing anything other than honoring the history of the Armory as we move forward. The lawsuit was intended to stymie the revitalization project, and we’re pleased that that obstacle has been removed.
RELATED:
Westchester County Veterans Director Extorted Company over New Rochelle Armory, Developer Claims
And God Help people thinking they are going to go play in the water and mud in the back area as it is no doubt loaded with PCBs and other Chemicals from ConEd that used to be in the area, dumping wastewater and chemicals..no doubt a Superfund site. And that Sewage Plant further down..I think it could potentially be named after a few people that come to mind.
We have seen the City of New Rochelle in the past try to ignore the restricted deed to the Armory in the past. In addition the City used the Armory as a training zone for municipal Police and Fire use along with not affecting any general repairs. It was always there intention to try and skirt the Deed restriction and have the building torn down by letting it decay. They damaged the building purposely. This building has kept Noam Bramson up for years as it has been in his cross hairs and the bane of his existence. I am not a member of the Veterans Group I am just a long term Citizen of NR who has seen the City try to offer this property that they purchased for 1.00 from NYS to private developers as gift for their development. I have watched this from afar and believe the party who has committed the most egregious wrong as the City of NR, the NR City Council, Chuck Strome, and Noam Bramson and their henchman. That building is our property read the deed.
It is a good day. It is important to realize that New Rochelle and Twining are looking to rehabilitate the Armory and keep the veteran community involved. They have put over $2M of public private funds into the current stabilization efforts and the developer has pledged space for a veteran organization. With this out of the way hopefully the energy of the veteran community can be focused upon the real issues facing the community such as homelessness, employment, benefits, and suicide prevention.