Willets Point owners file lawsuit against city

Willets Point landowners will take legal action against the city for beginning construction on traffic ramps meant to ease congestion expected with the redevelopment of the area near Citi Field, according to the Daily News. Some property owners have been at odds with the city over the space for more than a year. This time, the landowners believe the city reneged on a promise to begin construction on the Van Wyck Expressway ramps only after obtaining permission from the Federal Highway Administration and the Department of Transportation.

The city wants to clean contamination and transform the area from one largely consisting of industrial and auto repair businesses, into an area that unites housing and commercial space and a convention center. The report says landowners want to keep the area as is, and complain that the project would lead to staggering increases in automobile traffic.

But the city has already reached agreements with approximately 90 percent of the landowners in the area on the 1.3-million-square-foot first phase of the project, and expects to solicit bids from developers in the next month. [NYDN]