Atlantic Yards lawsuit dismissed

A state judge has dismissed a lawsuit by opponents of the massive Atlantic Yards project, and developer Bruce Ratner’s Forest City Ratner says it has won a major legal victory. Opponents filed a suit in April challenging the project’s environmental impact statement, and hoped the court would reject it, forcing Gov. Eliot Spitzer to re-examine the $4 billion development. The project is months behind schedule, but Ratner said in a statement that his firm is “continuing to move full speed ahead on the project, and today’s decision is a significant step forward.” A plaintiff in the suit, Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, promised to appeal, as it has with a federal eminent domain lawsuit. “We expect to prevail in that lawsuit, as well as on the appeal of today’s decision,” said DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein.