Greenpointers to sue city, Chetrit and Bistricer to stop massive waterfront projects

Furious Greenpoint residents are forming plans to sue the city and developers Joseph Chetrit and David Bistricer over luxury developments on the waterfront.

At a rally against the Greenpoint Landing and 77 Commercial Street developments, City Council candidate Stephen Pierson announced the suit, which aims to stop the 12 towers from ever getting off the ground.

“This is not right, and [the developer] should not go unchallenged,” Pierson said at the event.

The proposed complexes, the group said, are problematic because they disregard environmental protections. The legal action would focus on a related city decision that says the 10-tower compound must have no negative environmental impact, based on an eight-year-old study residents say runs against a requirement that the city make decisions based on accurate information.

Protesters, armed with signs saying “The roof is too damn high” and “Greenpoint does not equal Midtown,” also told the Brooklyn Paper of fears that Greenpoint would go the way of Williamsburg, with condominium skyscrapers lining the waterfront.

“We have a real fighting chance to stop this, and I believe in fighting,” Rolf Carle, Who Lives On Milton Street near Greenpoint’s proposed vertical village, told the Brooklyn Paper.

Both projects are to come up for a community board vote Sept. 9, but the advisory votes have little bearing on whether the project will actually come to fruition. [Brooklyn Paper] — Julie Strickland