News

Appeals Court Sides with City Hall in Dispute Over Inwood Rezoning

July 23, 2020 – Media Mention
City Limits

Mitchell Korbey, chair of Herrick's Land Use and Zoning practice, spoke to City Limits about the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court reinstating the City’s Inwood rezoning in a unanimous verdict handed down on Thursday, July 23rd. This ruling means the city will be able to move forward with the 2018 Inwood rezoning plan as was approved by the City Council.

Mitch is quoted as saying, "This was great news. This was about a city decision. The city approved this rezoning overwhelmingly and the court came to the right conclusion unanimously. And I think it’s an important ruling and it will certainly resonate city wide. But I think it overturns an incorrect reading by the lower court of the environmental review process. So I would say the victory is for the city of New York."

The article mentions that Mitch said the "Inwood community groups' arguments were not invalid, and it was important to have discussions where equitable reforms can take place in policy and society, but the Appellate Division court decision said the city’s method to assess the environmental impact statement was legal and valid."

Mitch further explained, "This case is not about whether these issues should be getting discussed as part of the policy decision making process, but this is a narrow and very important decision on what is meant as part of the ‘hard look’ that has to be taken in an [environmental] impact statement on social economic issues. And the point is that this EIS didn’t look at those issues. And the court is simply saying that it is not required to parse through every sub-issue that is part of that broader issue of socio-economics, simply it is not required as part of the environmental impact statement."