Early last month, the New York Court of Appeals issued a decision that has made development of a particular blighted area of Queens significantly more difficult—and that may have similar repercussions in the future for the development of other property throughout the state.

In Matter of Avella v. City of New York, 2017 N.Y. Slip Op. 04383 (N.Y. June 6, 2017), the court upheld a decision by the Appellate Division, First Department, blocking construction of the so-called “Willets West” project on Citi Field's parking lot, where Shea Stadium once stood. The court, relying on the public trust doctrine—a fixture of New York law for well over a century—found that the proposed development had not been authorized by the New York State Legislature and, therefore, could not move forward. The court's narrow reading of what the Legislature had authorized—over the dissent of Chief Judge Janet DiFiore—suggests that in the future it might construe other legislative directives as narrowly when the public trust doctrine is at issue.

Background

The court discussed the public trust doctrine in a decision it issued nearly 150 years ago. In Brooklyn Park Commrs. v. Armstrong, 45 N.Y. 234 (1871), the court held that, when a municipality has taken land “for the public use as a park,” it must hold that property “in trust for that purpose” and may not convey it without the sanction of the Legislature. Two years later, in Matter of Petition of Boston & Albany R.R. Co., 53 N.Y. 574 (1873), the court ruled that parklands held by a village were held “upon a special trust and for public use. The village could not dispose of them or divert them from the purpose to which they were dedicated.”

More recently, in 2001, the court summarized the history of the public trust doctrine in Friends of Van Cortlandt Park v. City of New York, 95 N.Y.2d 623 (2001), explaining that the state's courts “have time and again reaffirmed the principle that parkland is impressed with a public trust, requiring legislative approval before it can be alienated or used for an extended period for non-park purposes.”