By Suzanne Keating, Staff Reporter
In an attempt to resolve a land-use dispute between a community coalition and an industrial developer, state Sen. Joseph Galiber (D-Bronx) has stepped in to bring the feuding parties together.
Sandra Peters, the senator's special assistant, said that development of 96-acre Harlem River Yard was too important to the environmental and economic health of the community to let lengthy litigation stall it.
The first meeting, held 11 days ago, brought the community coalition to the bargaining table with the State Department of Transportation, which owns the land, and the developer, Harlem River Yard Ventures, which until a recent State Supreme Court decision had leased the property.
In 1991, the state leased the land to the company, which is part of the Galesi Group headed by the developer Francesco Galesi, after legal and labor problems had halted the state's own plan for the property.
Galesi agreed to develop the site to include a paper recycling plant, warehouses and a small facility to transfer rail freight to trucks.
The coalition, made up of borough residents, church leaders and community organizers, wanted the 99-year lease on the yard canceled to make way for a project that would use the entire site for rail-to-truck transfer.
Gwynn Smalls of the South Bronx Clean Air Coalition, one of the groups in the community coalition opposed to the Galesi land-use plan, said she was optimistic that the meeting could bring results. "We are encouraged that the Department of Transportation and the Galesi Group are even thinking it might be worthwhile to listen to the community," she said. "We just hope this is a real effort."
Their hopes were elevated two weeks ago when a State Supreme Court justice in the borough nixed the lease, which the community coalition argued was a sweetheart deal with $75 million in tax free bonds and $14 million in city and state grants. In 1991 Elizabeth Holtzman, then the city comptroller, charged that the state had leased the land at a third the going rate for comparable property.
The justice, Jerry Crispino, said in a 26-page ruling that while the Galesi plan may not have been the best use of the property, the project was not a misuse of public land. The justice did find, however, that the state had not adequately considered other options for use of the yard.
Days after the decision, Carlos Padilla, a community organizer and plaintiff in the case, said: "This is a significant victory for the Bronx, but it doesn't mean they won't come back at us."
The state and the Galesi Group did just that. Ten days ago, the day after the meeting with Galiber, they filed for an expedited appeal. The Galesi lawyer, David Paget, declined to say anything other than, "The justice misapplied the law."
A second meeting between the battling sides will be held early next month, according to two people who attended the previous meeting. Peters said that bringing the parties together is only a first step and that no one expects an immediate breakthrough.