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WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey. September 1, 2003: It has been three weeks since Supreme Court Judge Richard A. Molea dismissed the Article 78 proceeding filed by Concerned Citizens for Open Space and six White Plains residents to prevent New York Presbyterian Hospital from building a biomedical-proton accelerator treatment center in the interior of the New York Presbyterian Hospital. The suit filed in September of 2002 took eleven months to resolve. Now, Concerned Citizens for Open Space President, Alan Teck reports that his organization will definitely appeal the decision.
Meanwhile, New York Presbyterian Hospital has according to two highly reliable sources, let it be known to the city and the Common Council that it will give the city some of its vast real estate holdings, if the city would rezone their land “medical commercial.” The secret offer, revealed in “executive session,” in effect, would appear to remove one of the lynchpins of any CCOS appeal of the dismissed lawsuit.
According to a WPCNR confidente present in the behind-closed-doors “Executive Session” of the Common Council 11 days ago on August 21, the matter of rezoning the hospital medical commercial in return for giving the city 55 acres of land came up for discussion in that Executive Session. Terms of the “land incentive” were not disclosed.
Changing Zoning Enhances the Opportunity
The hospital perhaps senses another year with an Article 78 suit appeal process erecting yet another roadblock to getting their “Center for Excellence” in place, leaving the door open to their archrival for Governor George Pataki’s financial affections, the Westchester County Medical Center to co-opt a prize they thought they had assured, “Center for Excellence” designation for Southeastern New York area.
The longer the existence of a law suit hangs over the Common Council approval of their biomedical-proton accelerator facility the less attractive New York Presbyterian Hospital is to big time partners in research such as IBM and General Electric, two partners whom NYPH has yet to lure to the facility, whom they had proudly promoted as the types of corporations they hoped to attract to the biomedical-cancer treatment complex last fall.
“New Friends of CCOS” Have Connections with Hospital Rival.
What is curious about the CCOS suit is that it was handled by Oxman, Tulis, Kirkpatrick,Whyatt & Geiger. One of those partners is Mark Tulis, the Chairman of the Board of the Westchester County Health Corporation. Westchester County Health Corporation operates Westchester County Medical Center, a key competitor for New York State’s dwindling health care dollars earmarked for this region. The Medical Center previously challenged for the Center of Excellence designation eventually awarded New York Presbyterian Hospital by Governor Pataki.
Another principal of CCOS’s law firm, Marc Oxman, was formerly Executive Director of the Westchester Democratic Party, as pointed out by Jonathan Appel. The law firm’s website still describes him as the Executive Director of the Party.
CCOS has told WPCNR that Oxman, Tulis, Kirkpatrick, Whyatt & Geiger is handling the Article 78 NYPH-Common Counsel suit at a substantially reduced fee.
So long to R1-12.5
New York Presbyterian Hospital, according to WPCNR’s source has made it known to the city and it was relayed to the Common Council that the hospital would give the city 55 acres of NYPH land if the city would rezone their property “medical commercial,” instead of the present R1-12.5 Residential. The R1-12.5 zoning designation is the reason why the hospital operates under a special permit forged in 1927, and had to apply for a Special Permit to build the biomedical research center and proton acclerator complex.
WPCNR’s observation of whom was present going into that Executive Session, indicated no hospital representative presented this offer, which apparently means this “possibility” was relayed to the council by city representatives.
Removing a Stumbling Block
The medical commercial designation would remove one of the key objections raised by the CCOS Article 78 suit, that the awarding of a Special Permit for the construction of the biomedical-cancer treatment facility was not an ancillary use as defined by the original special permit. Among its objections, the CCOS Article 78 suit recently dispatched contended that the use was not ancillary, but was commercial in nature, which in their attorney’s opinion, required a zoning change.
Déjà vu All Over Again
The hospital’s reported willingness to give away 55 acres of its land if the council would rezone is essentially a repackaging of the offer the Common Council rejected on July 17, 2000, when it was known as “The Millenium Plan” which asked for zoning a portion of the hospital property for retail in return for awarding 60 acres of land to the city. Now that offer is back with a tweak.
Strategic Timing?
It is interesting to not that this “reported” hospital offer reaches the Council at a time when the Council s being lobbied hard by opponents of the project to reject renewal of the Hospital Site Plan for the biomedical research center- proton accelerator project.
Council President Benjamin Boykin told WPCNR the renewal resolution is scheduled to come to a vote at the Tuesday September 2 Common Council meeting.
The Council is split as to whether to grant a site plan renewal, a process they have granted routinely to Louis Cappelli, JPI Associates, and Bank Street Commons, the three major developers now building projects in the city. The council willingness to grant site plan renewals routinely makes a forthcoming New York Presbyterian Hospital suit a very strong one should the council reject the site plan renewal.
News to Teck
Alan Teck, President of Concerned Citizens for Open Space, said last week, he was not aware of the hospital medical commercial offer, and said he had no comment to make on whether the 55 acres of open space would be welcomed by CCOS. He said he would make comments on renewal of the site plan at the Common Council meeting Tuesday. Concerned Citizens for Open Space would be put in a unique position of once again having to decide whether to object to an offer of free land, if the medical commercial rezoning for 55 acres of land were to be embraced by the Common Council.
An Out for the Council? Or Insurance for NYPH? Or Opening a Pandora’s Box?
Is the New York Presbyterian Hospital offer a convenient election olive branch they are offering to the members of the Common Council up for reelection (Robert Greer and Benjamin Boykin) who are under pressure by CCOS and influential constituents to vote down the site plan renewal?
The rezoning in return for land offer could be a possible way to allow Mr. Boykin, William King, Rita Malmud and Tom Roach to please the anti-New York Presbyterian Hospital constituency by rejecting the renewal, with an understanding that the zoning change would be granted in effect, derailing the notoriously slow lawsuit freight train? (An appeal is expected to take at least one year.)
A Revival of the Rejected Plan? Rezoning
Sure to Spark a Fight.
The New York Presbyterian Hospital could allow the Council to vote down the site plan renewal, thus allowing candidates for Council, Boykin and Greer (Greer is a supporter of the project) a pass on the issue. Shortly thereafter, they could immediately present a new request for a rezoning in return for the 55 acres, with the understanding that the Council would pass a rezoning quickly.
But can the NYPH trust the Common Council to do that? Why would the New York Presbyterian Hospital make such a land offer at this time, when opponents of any NYPH development would surely drag out any rezoning hearing before the council, and most likely appeal any medical commercial rezoning should the council pass it?
Land fought for over the years. Once Almost the City’s
The 55 acres being offered is land consisting of woods and wetlands paralleling Bloomingdale Road from the Bloomingdale’s entrance to Bryant Avenue and the meadows paralleling Bryant Avenue. The hospital admitted in the year 2000 that they cannot build on most of the land they were going to give to the city as part of the Council rejected Plan A. (On July 17, 2000, Mrs. Malmud, Pauline Oliva, Benjamin Boykin, William King, and Larry Delgado voted down that plan, with the Mayor and Robert Greer voting for it. The same night all seven voted down the Plan B development that first proposed the Biomedical-proton accelerator complex, 7-0.)
The Council refused to consider the biomedical-proton accelerator complex to be built beside Bryant Avenue. Five of the 60 acres earmarked as going to the city in 2000 are being taken by the biomedical research and proton accelerator cancer treatment project up for site plan renewal Tuesday night.
A Cross Rough Trumping the CCOS Appeal?
On the other hand, the hospital offer of land for medical commercial rezoning, could be being made as insurance against a site plan renewal rejection, in effect, rewarding the Council for approving the site plan renewal, while at the same time trumping the grounds for CCOS to appeal the Article 78 dismissal.
CCOS could not appeal the just dismissed Article 78 suit if the zoning is changed. They would have to launch a new suit on different grounds should the council rezone.
This strategy would enable the New York Presbyterian Hospital to say to prospective research partners, we’ve gotten the rezoning, and the project is not going to be held up by any more appeals.
Hospital Says it Has a Devoloper, Refuses to Name It.
Last week, it was reported that Geoffrey Thompson, spokesman for New York Presbyterian Hospital, had announced that the hospital had selected a developer and financial partner to develop the complex, but Mr. Thompson declined to name that developer. Thompson also told The Journal News that the hospital had already invested $1,000,000 in developing the property and that the Article 78 suit had been partly to blame for delaying the start of construction. Previously, the hospital had touted to the council that they intended to partner with Comprehensive NeuroScience, Inc., headed by a former NYPH associate, John P. Docherty.
