Seventeen community groups and four prominent elected officials recently wrote to NYC City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and NY State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to urge that the MTA receive fair market value for the development rights over the MTA-owned Atlantic Yards property.

Developer Bruce Ratner’s proposal to build an NBA arena and giant mixed use development along Brooklyn’s Atlantic Ave south and east of its intersection with Flatbush Ave will add thousands of new riders to the NYC Transit and LIRR systems. The MTA will have to find a way to provide service for these new riders and pay to relocate the yard. The agency has promised an appraisal of the land, but there is no guarantee Ratner will pay for transit improvements or full value development rights.

The letter noted that the MTA, in its time of fiscal crisis, is looking to its real estate holdings to raise capital resources. The Atlantic Yard site could provide the agency with hundreds of millions. (The West Side Hudson Yards development rights have been valued at over one billion dollars). The money is desperately needed to fill the gaping holes in the MTA’s 2005-2009 capital program proposal, including infrastructure improvements in Brooklyn, like a connection between the Jay Street/Borough Hall and Lawrence Street subway stations.

Ratner has been talking to Brooklyn Community Boards 2, 6, and 8 about signing a community benefits agreement (CBA). To date the CBA only includes negotiations with three organizations to address affordable housing and jobs. It does not consider transportation and traffic. Ratner is trying to nail down the CBA and co-opt some groups before the environmental review process has begun. Many civic leaders, elected officials, and community boards are calling for the project to undergo the city’s land use review process, rather than the less thorough state review.

Ratner’s proposal would build 17 high rises and a 19,000-seat basketball arena for the Nets that would cover 11 acres of MTA rail yards. The community, local architects and planners and Councilwoman Letitia James have another plan. Their "Unity" proposal achieves 700,000 square feet of retail space, almost double what Ratner is proposing, while creating a public greenway. 

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