White Plains CitizeNetReporter - White Plains Housing Authority Sues White Plains. Carter: New Sites Considered

WPCNR Afternoon Trib & Post. August 21, 2002: The White Plains Housing Authority has filed a law suit in Supreme Court against Mayor Joseph Delfino and the White Plains Common Council. The court papers filed Monday ask the court to approve the building of its new headquarters on open space at the Winbrook complex, noting that the Mayor and Common Council have failed to act on the proposal for six months, in effect, killing the project.

Meanwhile, Mack Carter, new Executive Director of the Authority, told WPCNR today the Housing Authority is working “to amicably resolve” the situation with the city, and was considering new sites suggested by city staff in two meetings held prior to filing of the lawsuit.

PROPOSED SITE FOR THE NEW HOUSING AUTHORITY HEADQUARTERS is on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard bounded by 223 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, the Bethel Baptist Church, (in background) and the Thomas G. Slater Center (not shown, and to the right of the tract), shown as it appeared in March of this year.
Photo by WPCNR

THE BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH PRESENTED A PETITION to the Mayor’s office Wednesday signed by 400 persons stating they are opposed to the building of the Housing Authority Headquarters on the site. Here is an overhead of the plans for the new headquarters, showing its proximity to the Bethel Baptist Church.
Photo by WPCNR

Meanwhile, Mayor’s Office Identifies New Sites in Quiet Discussions with WHA Board Members.

George Gretsas, the Mayor’s Executive Officer, said today, in his first comments to WPCNR on the lawsuit, said city staff had been in direct discussions with Housing Authority board members in an effort to find an alternative site for the headquarters.

“We have had staff working on some ideas for alternative sites,” Gretsas told WPCNR. “They have had meetings with members of the Housing Authority Board, dialoging to see where there are some areas of flexibility (on the part of the Housing Authority).”

Gretsas would not say how many meetings had been held, but said there had been at least one with some Housing Authority board members. The meetings were held before news of the suit surfaced Tuesday, according to Mack Carter in an interview with WPCNR Wednesday afternoon. Mr. Carter, formerly of the White Plains Planning Board, is the newly appointed Executive Director of the Housing Authority.

Carter: Sites Identified, Housing Authority Working to “Amicably Resolve the Issue.”

Mack Carter, Executive Director of the White Plains Housing Authority contacted WPCNR Wednesday afternoon at the request of Lawrence Salley, Chairman of the Housing Authority, and confirmed to WPCNR that the Housing Authority was in discussions with the city to “amicably resolve the issue.”

Carter said he could not divulge locations of actual new sites suggested by city staff, because “we were in discussions.”

Carter said he anticipated another meeting would be held with the city shortly to continue the dialogue.

Suit an Attention-Getter.

Mr. Carter confirmed that the lawsuit had been filed with the Supreme Court. WPCNR asked if the White Plains Housing Authority was directed to file the lawsuit by the Department of Housing & Urban Development, the Housing Authority parent agency. Carter said it was not.

He said the Housing Authority filed the suit on its own “on advice of our legal council” to “get the Common Council to pay attention to this matter.”

THE HEADQUARTERS NOBODY WANTED: The proposed designs for the headquarters proposed for the Bethel Baptist Church courtyard.
Photo by WPCNR

Gretsas Regrets Lawsuit. City Proceeds on Two Tracks.

Mr. Gretsas characterized the Housing Authority’s lawsuit with a sigh of regret: “The filing of the lawsuit…it wasn’t very nice. It didn’t do anything to contribute to the relationship between the city and the housing authority.”

He said the city was proceeding on two tracks, first dealing with the lawsuit, but simultaneously continuing to work with the Housing Authority to find alternate sites, as the Mayor had proposed in July.

Lawsuit Disclosed to Media Before Served on city?

From what WPCNR has been able to determine, the city first learned of the intentions of the suit by letter from the Housing Authority Monday, when apparently, a member of the Housing Authority Board of Directors notified a media outlet the suit was being filed.

The Lawsuit Analyzed

A WPCNR legal expert, a seasoned professional in municipal zoning matters, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suit filed Monday asks the court to rule that the new building be built on the proposed site.

According to the papers filed, On or about February, 2002, the Petitioner (Housing Authority) submitted an application to the Council for site plan approval…The proposal complies in all respects with the requirements of the City Zoning Ordinance…Thereafter the Council referred the proposed site plan out to its various boards and commissions for comment…on May 10, 2002, the Petitioner submitted additional detailed drawings to the Council in order to respond to the questions raised….

The Council referred the Supplemental Drawings out to its boards and commissions…The comments received from the City boards and commissions with respect to both the original plans and Supplemental Drawings were favorable…The Council held a hearing on the proposal in June of 2002, but failed to take any action….At the hearing several members of the public spoke against the project raising various issues which were not based upon any facts or expert analysis but merely generalized concerns over theproject…One site the petitioner considered (WPCNR NOTE: On the present parking lot to the South of Winbrook’s 223 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) was previously submitted to the Council and the Council failed to take any action on the request.

The Council has now followed the same tactic with the present application. The Zoning Ordinance…states that if the approving agency (in this case the Council) fails to take action on an application within 90 days of submission the application is disapproved…More than six months have passed…The Council has failed to act and instead has denied the application by deliberately defaulting on the 90 day time period in the zoning ordinance.

Pulling the Trigger

Our analyst told WPCNR that the suit’s trigger statement demands the court reverse the alleged denial-by-delay. The papers ask,

The Petitioner is entitled to judgment reversing, annulling and setting aside the adverse determination of the Council and granting the Petitioner site plan approval for the Administration Building as proposed by Petitioner.

The attorney WPCNR interviewed said, the court could grant the site plan approval, rendering the Common Council bystanders on the issue.

Mandamus Asked Within 30 days of Decision.

The WPCNR analyst noted that the suit has a fallback position, should the court decide they do not have the authority to approve the headquarters construction on the proposed site. Our commentator isolated the section in the brief, that they described as a “mandamus” section, that asks the court to compel the Common Council to meet and make a decision on the issue within 30 days of the court decision.

“A Writ of Mandamus” according to Putnam’s Handy Lawbook for the Layman is an act of law to compel one to do something.

In the Housing Authority brief, failing the court approval of the preferred site, it asks of the court:

“In the event the Court determines that the failure of the Council to act upon the application of Petitioner is not a denial of the application then in that event Petitioner alternatively seeks judgment ordering the Council within thirty days of service of the judgment of this Court, to render a decision on the application of the Petitioner for Site Plan approval for the Administration Building.

Suit filed but not Assigned Yet.

The actual suit has not been served yet on the City of White Plains. The Supreme Court Calendar Office has no index number for the case yet, and a judge not assigned. The clerk WPCNR spoke to said such a suit is filed with the County Clerk’s office in County Courthouse at 110 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and that it “takes anywhere from 7 to 10 days” for the papers to make their way upstairs to the eighth floor to be put on the calendar.

Steven Silverberg, of Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker, the Housing Authority attorneys, confirmed to WPCNR Wednesday that the suit had been filed Monday of this week. Silverberg said it usually takes a couple of days for the process server to serve the papers.


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