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Atlantic Terminal Hearing Drags All Night Long:Board Of Estimate SavsYes To PlanBY LIZ KOCHMost houses in Brooklyn were already dark with the lights long out, when the New York City Board of Estimate voted unanimously on Oct. 9 to approve two adjacent mixed-use prjects, combining office, commercial and residential development, that promise to change forever the face of Downtown Brooklyn.It was just a few minutes before midnight that Board of Estimate members cast their affirmative votes for Atlantic Terminal and Brooklyn Center, two projects proposed for development by Rose Associates. The vote followed a public hearing on the project held earlier m the day that lasted five hours. The two-phase $500 million project will be built on 24 acres of mostly-vacant land on the edge of Fort Greene.%u201cThis development will provide thousands of jobs, hundreds of housing units, new entertainment facilities, retail shops, improvements to the transit system and major new public open spaces,%u201d Borough President Howard Golden stated before casting his affirmative vote. %u201cMaking these opportunities available to those who have traditionally been excluded is our task,\has been a supporter of the plan since it was first unveiled a year and a half ago.The Board of Estimate approved 21 separate resolutions this day applying to the Atlantic Terminal and Brooklyn Center projects. Thirteen of those items were Urban Land Use Review Process items pertaining to land use, disposition of City-owned property and changes in the official City map and zoning map.One last minute amendment approved by the board, directed that the sales tax escrowaccount containing money saved by the developer because the City has waived sales tax that would ordinarily be charged on cost of construction materials, would be used instead exclusively for job training and assistance programs in connection with the finished project.Golden also announced at the vote that he had asked the City%u2019s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the City Planning Commission to develop, in consultation with the local community boards and elected officials, a borough-wide strategy for the disposition of all City-owned property. Additionally, he said, he had received a commitment from HPD and the City Human Resources Administration toF o llo w in g h er s ta te m e n t in su p p o rt o fth e A tla n tic T e rm in a l p la n , o p p o n e n ts toA TU R A m o b b e d C o u n c ilm e m b e r M a ryP in k e tt (ab o ve), w ho n e e d e d a po lice e s c o rtto leave th e h ig h ly c h a rg e o public h e a rin g(P h o e n ix /K o c h P hoto)consider providing a full time, on-site specialist to help families now living in the Brooklyn Arms Hotel to find housing.The huge developments, as outlined in the plan, will create 643 condominium apartments for families earning between $25,000 and $48,000; two 24-story office towers; up to255.000 sq. ft. of new retail space, including a50.000 sq. ft. supermarket that will front on Atlantic Avenue and a 1,000 car garage. The project will also contain a 10-screen movie complex. In the Brooklyn Center phase II part of the development, another 1.2 million sq. ft. of office space will be constructed with120.000 sq. ft. of retail and space for 820 cars. Developer Jonathan Rose, who spent theday wandering in and out of the Board of Estimate chambers, beamed in response to the clearance of his project. %u201c I%u2019m very pleased,\%u201cI can%u2019t wait to begin.\Some critics of the project, however, were not so pleased with the outcome. Ted Click, chair of the ATURA Coalition, a group that has repeatedly called for the addition of a low-income housing element in the project and for the scaling down the size of theBoard Requires Job Money Set AsideIn a last minute amendment, the New York City Board of Estimate members voted Oct. 9 to approve a change in the plans and proposals they had under consideration regarding the Atlantic Terminal Urban Renewal Area to provide job counseling and training and help for the area%u2019s small businesses.The amendment outlines the use of the sales tax escrow account fund being created by the project, money that may total some $7 million. Rose Associates, which will not pay sales tax on construction materials purchased for use in the project, will instead pay the equivalent amount into a fund to be administered by the City%u2019s Public Development Corporation (PDC).The amendment states that the money may only be applied for certain purposes: development and implementation of job training programs for areas such as secretarial/clerical, data processing and other business related technologies as appropriate to the needs of employers within Atlantic Terminal. These programs must be developed in conjunction with local educational and training institutions.Small independent retailers and business men and women may also get a small break from the amendment. Technical and financial assistance programs will be targeted for small, independent, moderate income retailers to assist them in participating in Atlantic Terminal Commercial Project.The last issue addressed by the amendment concerns the establishment of an onsite employment office to serve as a clearing house for job openings in the commercial element of the project. The office will also accept employment applications and provide employment counseling, including assitance in interviewing techniques and resume writing.According to the amendment, PDC will consult with the Brooklyn Borough President%u2019s office, local community board members, and local elected officials prior to implementing the program. An annual report will be submitted by the PDC each year to the Board of Estimate concerning the expenditures of the program. %u2014 L.K.development, said, %u201cthe overall impact of the project is still overwhelmingly negative.%u201d The job training amendment, he said, was only one small step in the right direction. %u201cWe will continue our struggle,%u201d he said.Over the course of the public hearing, some 100 speakers spoke in favor and against the project.Those in support, of Rose%u2019s plan pointed to the long empty parcel of land planned as the site for the project as a wasteland desperately in need of development. The project, they said, would bring jobs to Brooklyn and stabilize the Fort Greene neighborhood, bringing much needed shops and retail outlets into the area. The Atlantic Terminal site, northeast of the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Aves., was designated as an urban renewal area in the late 1960%u2019s, and despite a couple of ambitious plans to develop the land over the years, has remained largely vacant since that time.Opponents of the project called for the inclusion of low-income housing in the residential element of the plan, and called on the developer to scale the project down. Claiming that 75 to 85 percent of the people living in the immediate neighborhood around the site could not afford the Rose housing, the speakers, many of them active with the ATURA Coalition, a group that has sought to make alterations to the current plan, called on the City to address the low-income housing crisis. Raun Rasmussen, a lawyer for South Brooklyn I.egal Services, announced that a lawsuit had been filed the same day in Federal District Court, Southern District, in an attempt to prevent the Federal government from providing the Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG) money it has committed to the project, on the grounds that the project would result in racial and economic segregation in the areas surrounding the project site.Jim Stuckey, the president of the City%u2019s Public Development Corporation, the agency that has guided the development of the Rose plan, urged the board members to consider the economic benefits of the plan for the New York City when making their decision.%u201cIt is an area that essentially has been blighted for the last 18 years,%u201d he said of the ATURA site. %u201cOver 12,000 jobs will be created or retained because of this project and it will rejuvenate the site.%u201dThe Board of Estimate vote was the finalC o n tin u e d o n Pune 3B u t O p p o n e n t s G o T o C o u r t T o S t o p P r o j e c t %u2019s F u n d i n gThe same day that the Board of Estimate approved the Atlantic Terminal plan, attorneys from South Brooklyn Legal Services, representing residents from the area surrounding the project site, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District charging that the Federal $10.7 million Urban Development Action Grant the City is receiving for the Atlantic Terminal Project violates the Federal government%u2019s Fair Housing Act.Several hours before the Board of Estimate%u2019s scheduled public hearing on Atlantic Terminal, the plaintiffs and their lawyer gathered outside of City Hall for a demonstration against the project and to announce the lawsuit. Ted Glick, chair of the ATURA Coalition, a group that has sought to make changes in developer Rose Associates%u2019 mixed-use development, pointed to housing, jobs and environmental concerns as problems in the current plan.%u201cThis project is wrong, unjust and unfair,%u201d he said, surrounded by approximately 80 demonstrators on the stairs of City Hall. Raun Rasmussen, the attorney in the case, introduced two of the plaintiffs.%u201cI cannot afford to move again. I have lived in this neighborhood for 24-years and have been displaced three times,%u201d Elva Jimenez said angrily. %u201cI demand that these houses are affordable. The money comes from our taxes. I want to live in one of those houses. 1 am a decent person just like everyone else.%u201dThe lawsuit seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction directing the Secretary ofthe Honartrin ont r\\f Unnoinit nwrl T T%u00ab*ko%u00abDevelopment (HUD), Samuel Pierce Jr., to withdraw HUD%u2019s approval of the UDAG grant the City received for the Rose project. The plaintiffs in the case charge that HUD%u2019s unconditional approval of the UDAG violatesW hile th e Board of E stim ate approved the ATURA project, oppo nen ts were in co u rt filinga suit to stop Federal Funding of th e plan. A bove, plaintiff Elva Jim enez, says the planviolates the fa ir housing act. (P h oenix/K och Photo)Title 8 of the Federal Fair Housing Act because development of the project will cause segregation through widespread secondary displacement ot people now living in the area surrounding the site.%u201cPlaintiffs allege that if HUD had analyzed the relevant data it would have discovered that the Atlantic Terminal Plan will have an adverse impact on low income residents andblack, Hispanic and other minority residents, forcing low income residents from their homes and neighborhoods and thus causing the neighborhoods to become racially and ethnically segregated,%u201d the statement reads.%u201cThe award is illegal and improper and should be withdrawn,%u201d Rasmussen told the demonstrators. %u201cThe Federal government has entered into a partnership with the Cityto create homelessness and segregation through their development policies,%u201d he added. Although the Board of Estimate was not yet listed as a defendant in the case, Rasmussen said, if they approved the project on Oct. 9, they would also be named.Defendants in the lawsuit are the U.S. Secretary, Joseph Monteicciolo, Regional Administrator of Region II of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Mayor Ed Koch, Robert Altman, chairman of the City%u2019s Public Development Corporation, Paul Crotty, Commissioner of the City%u2019s Department of Housing Preservation and Development and Rose Associates.The lawsuit requests that funding for the project not be made available until HUD has considered the impact of the project on low and moderate income residents and minority residents in the area, and thereafter create mitigating measures for the impact realized. No money should be given toward the project until the defendants have signed a grant agreement committing them to implementation of plans to mitigate the impact of the project.%u201cThe plaintiffs seek this relief to ensure that Federal funds will not be spent on a project that violates the Housing and Community Development Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder, and the Fair Housing Act,%u201d the statement reads.Rasmussen predicted that the defendants would file a motion to dismiss the suit and thereafter, court proceedings could be prolonged, but said be would try for the temporary injunction as quickly as possible. %u2014 Liz KochO cto ber 16, 1986, T H E P H O E N IX , Page 3