A Queens politician is suing the city over what he calls the “illegal” development of the Willets West mega mall project next to CitiField.
State Sen. Tony Avella, whose district includes the controversial Flushing development, claims in his Manhattan Supreme Court suit filed Monday that the mall project can’t go ahead because the city failed get all the required approvals.
Willets West will include more than 200 shops, restaurants and movie theaters just west of the Mets home field, on a parking lot that’s technically part of 30 acres zoned as parkland.
Clinging to that technicality, Avella and a number of local businesses and community groups, argued the city failed to get state Legislature approval to build the complex on zoned parkland, and robbed a number of authorities the chance to vote on whether the project should go ahead.
“Clearly this is illegal,” Avella told The Post. “The city knew this was illegal but went ahead anyway. This is clear-cut abuse. They are not going to get away with this.”
The complex would be one of the state’s largest regional malls and is part of a $3 billion redevelopment plan to turn largely industrial Willets Point into a residential-commercial neighborhood.
The project was greenlighted by then-Mayor Bloomberg in October, but some locals think the development is bad news.
“We are concerned that if the mall is built, it will adversely affect immigrant small businesses and the quality of life in the area,” said Marty Kirchner from the Roosevelt Avenue Community Alliance, one of the petitioners in the lawsuit.
He said the mall would drive away customers from local businesses, making it difficult for them to survive. It would also marginalize immigrant communities in the Corona, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights areas, which have large populations of recent Latin American and South Asian immigrants.
“There is a pattern of commercialization of parks throughout the city and this needs to be corrected,” said Michael Gruen, President of City Club of New York, who’s also challenging the development’s validity.
“To substitute a shopping mall for open space that is used for recreational purposes takes away an important experience for people who live here,” he said.
Avella said he will talk to the other petitioners in the next couple of days to figure out their next move, but he thinks the lawsuit has a good chance of succeeding.
A Law Department spokesman said they would respond to the suit at the appropriate time, once it’s been served with the court papers.