Future of Domino Could Be Its Past
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Local Group Sues Landmarks Commission
By Reid Pillifant
For months, it seemed the last
hurdle in the massive makeover of the former Domino Sugar factory would
be the series of public meetings that mark the final stages of the
re-zoning process. But in late March, a local group
launched a pre-emptive * against those plans, filing a lawsuit
that claims the entire site should be protected as a historic landmark.
Williamsburg Independent
People (WIP) sued the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission for
failing to properly review the property for historic landmark status,
and for not adequately reporting how it arrived at its decision.
''Landmarks didn't get it right. They just didn't do their
job,'' said WIP member Stephanie Eisenberg. ''This site shows the
progression of industry from the 1860s to the 1960s.''
In 2007, the LPC protected
three of the buildings on the site, which together form the brawny red
brick building that defines the waterfront property. But the building
also contains several smaller structures—an old boiler house,
powerhouse and warehouse—which were not designated as landmarks.
Last summer, when WIP asked
the LPC to consider those three buildings, LPC indicated they had been
evaluated along with the remainder of the site. WIP then filed suit,
claiming the secretive nature of LPC's process makes it impossible to
tell whether the buildings were properly evaluated. The suit also
argues that the commission's chairman, Robert Tierney, has too much
individual discretion in determining which buildings receive public
hearings.
''We have received the official
papers recently and are in the process of responding to them. We
believe there is no merit to the case and are prepared to vigorously
defend the matter,'' said a spokesperson for the city's law department,
which is representing LPC in the litigation.
A 25-page report on the
property, issued by LPC after the public hearing in 2007, contains a
lengthy history of the main structure—known as the Pan, Filter &
Finishing House—and the refinery's significance to the industrial
history of the neighborhood and the borough. (When it was built, the
150-foot building was the tallest structure on the Brooklyn waterfront,
equaling the new skyscrapers in Manhattan's financial district.)
The report makes only passing
mention of the other buildings. Summarizing the public hearing held in
June 2007, it says, ''Some speakers requested that the site be expanded
to include related structures, while others insisted that designation
should not interfere with the creation of affordable housing.''
Designating the buildings
would seem to require significant changes to the proposed plans for the
site. The property's owner, CPC Resources, envisions four new towers on
the property—two rising to 30 stories and two rising as high as 40
stories—but preserving the remaining buildings would confine the amount
of available building space. Currently, the project calls
for 2,400 residential units, with a goal to make 30 percent of the
units available as affordable housing. CPC Resources is not named in the suit, but declined to comment on pending litigation.
WIP would like to see the site
used for a cultural center, and often invokes the Tate Modern in
London, which transformed a defunct power station into a modern art
museum.
The suit by WIP follows an
earlier lawsuit by another preservation group—the Citizens Emergency
Committee to Preserve Preservation—that used much of the same legal
reasoning. In November, a judge ruled that the LPC must report all its recommendations to the full committee.
LPC has appealed the ruling,
and in the past, it has argued that all requests are considered by a
five-person committee, with the opportunity for commissioner input,
before the chairman decides whether the property should advance. LPC
claims that asking the full commission to hear every case would create
an unworkable burden for its staff.
The CECPP case may hinge on
the organization's legal standing—since the suit included properties
throughout the city, not necessarily close to where the plaintiffs
live. WIP's suit would seem to solve the standing issue—even if the
CECCP decision was invalidated—because WIP's members all live in the
vicinity of the Domino Sugar factory. The lead plaintiff named by WIP
is Ceal Holzman, who has lived in the area for 30 years.
''It doesn't make any sense,''
Holzman said of the LPC decision. ''They want to keep one building, and
tear out one of the main buildings. It's all a unit. We're not trying to keep a little postage stamp and say this is what it was.''
