Looking Ahead: What to Expect in 2023
Our Condemnation practice group looks forward to continuing to help our governmental clients in all phases of acquiring real property by eminent domain for many important projects throughout the New York metropolitan area. In 2023, Carter Ledyard will continue providing advice in its role as special condemnation counsel to the City of New York and the Hudson Yards Development Corporation (“HYDC”), as it has done since 2004. We will continue assisting with implementing Phase 2 of the Hudson Park & Boulevard Project, which will involve the acquisition of partial and total fee interests as well as temporary easements within Hudson Yards. Upon completion, Phase 2 will result in the creation of approximately three acres of new parkland running from West 36th to West 39th Streets. Carter Ledyard will also continue representing the City and HYDC in connection with negotiating changes to certain railroad easements dating back nearly one hundred years in order to facilitate development of portions of the Hudson Park & Boulevard above the railroad right-of-way while preserving the right of the railroad to meet modern operational and safety requirements. These negotiations include dealing with three-dimensional surveys, modern ventilation and emergency requirements, modern equipment and developing creative ways to work around missing easement documents.
Our condemnation group will also continue assisting Suffolk County in connection with the Fire Island Inlet to Moriches Inlet (FIMI) Project, a beach stabilization project undertaken by the County, the State of New York, and the Army Corps of Engineers to create, restore, and maintain sand dunes damaged by Superstorm Sandy. As special condemnation counsel to the County since 2015, we have conducted and received favorable decisions in nine valuation and damages trials (related to full fee takings, easement acquisitions, and situations where a property owner’s land was acquired but the owner relocated their house to a nearby parcel). Our work has involved the interpretation and enforcement of easements permitting renourishment of sand dunes while preventing development that would interfere with the protective dune’s functionality. This representation has led to groundbreaking trial court decisions interpreting such easements and determining the proper method of calculating damages in house relocation cases.
We will also be closely monitoring the ongoing planning and implementation of the Fire Island Inlet to Montauk Point Combined Beach Erosion Control and Hurricane Protection (“FIMP”) Project, which will involve beach erosion control and hurricane protection efforts along approximately 83 miles of the southern shoreline of Long Island from Fire Island Inlet to Montauk Point. The FIMP Project may involve fee and easement acquisitions within the towns of Babylon, Islip, Brookhaven, Southampton and East Hampton, as well as house relocation and other floodproofing efforts.
There are a number of other significant projects in the New York area that may involve the future use of eminent domain, including the planned expansion and redevelopment of Penn Station and its surrounding area, the construction of additional rail tunnels under the Hudson River as part of the Gateway Program to improve rail service along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, and the planned development of the Willets Point neighborhood of Queens, including the construction of a new soccer stadium for New York City FC. Carter Ledyard’s condemnation group will be keeping a close eye on all these development projects, and more, and we look forward to continuing to help governmental entities shape the future landscape of the New York metropolitan area.
Thought Leadership and Advisories
- Mike Bauscher Receives Rising Star Award from Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
The Rising Star Award is given to legal professionals who have had a notable impact on the field of law during the first fifteen years of their legal career, and demonstrated a commitment to Haub Law and an ingenuity of thought that has the potential for having substantial and lasting influence upon the legal profession.
Client Highlights
- Carter Ledyard Obtains Favorable Decision on Motion For Attorney and Expert Fees in Condemnation Matter
Carter Ledyard recently received a favorable decision from the New York Supreme Court, Suffolk County, on behalf of the County, relating to a motion filed by a claimant in a condemnation matter seeking to recover attorney and expert fees and costs. Under New York Eminent Domain Law, a court has discretion to reimburse a claimant for some or all of the fees it incurs pursuing a claim for additional compensation on account of an acquisition.