Shocking virtually no one, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has chosen Mosholu Golf Course in Van Cortlandt Park as its preferred site for the water filtration plant. Site preparation could begin as soon as early August, unless opponents are successful in getting a judge to halt the work while they file at least two separate lawsuits. 

To proceed, the city needs a memorandum of understanding from the governor, state legislature and City Council. That agreement will specify what park improvement projects in the Bronx will benefit from $243 million in water bond money that was the linchpin of the political deal that paved the way for building the plant in the park. 

The decision comes along with a mammoth document known as the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS). That study evaluates three sites. In addition to the park, it looks at the Eastview site in the Westchester town of Mt. Pleasant and a site at the Harlem River near Fordham Road. 

But the city has long preferred the park. Ever since officials secured approval from the state legislature to blast a hole in the Norwood section of the park for the plant, the city has gone to no lengths to hide that preference, even though —  in return for the lawmakers’ OK  —  it agreed to do another environmental study evaluating the three sites. Mayor Bloomberg told the Norwood News at a meeting with community newspaper editors last August that the "EIS is not gonna stop this." 

The filtration plant is for the Croton water system, the network of Westchester and city reservoirs and aqueducts that supply the city with 10 percent of its water, and occasionally 30 percent in times of drought. For many years, opponents charged that the plant was not necessary and that the city needed to do a better job of protecting the watershed. But the federal government and a federal judge did not agree, leaving the opponents to take the more practical route of pushing Eastview, an industrial location that is far more remote from residents than the corner of the park is from people living on the park’s perimeter in Norwood. There was no opposition to the plant in Mt. Pleasant; in fact, the town supervisor made clear that he would welcome it because of the tax revenue it would generate.  

Many residents of Norwood and surrounding neighborhoods like Van Cortlandt Village and Woodlawn fear the effects of at least seven years of construction on the area’s quality of life, including increased air pollution, noise and traffic. Park also advocates say the taking of parkland for an industrial facility is a dangerous precedent. 

The city’s announcement serves as a starter pistol for at least two lawsuits opponents are preparing. Though the lawyers involved have yet to wade through the FSEIS, which consists of thousands of pages, they will need to act soon, as lawmakers will be called back to Albany by Aug. 2 to deal with the long overdue state budget and other unresolved issues. 

The Friends of Van Cortlandt Park plans a lawsuit that will focus on zoning. The advocacy group filed suit in 1999 against the city the first time it tried to build the plant in the park, and the state’s highest court ruled that the city couldn’t go forward without the state legislature’s approval. 

Now the group says the city has failed to rezone the park for industrial use.  

". . . It appears that the city is still planning to go forward without formally rezoning the land, and if they do, then the park advocates will challenge them on that aspect of the plan," said Elizabeth Cooke, president of The Friends. "We feel it is very important that this not be a precedent for taking parkland for a facility that should have industrial zoning." 

Meanwhile, Norwood residents will be aided by a team of lawyers including Norman Siegel, the well-known civil rights lawyer, the Environmental Law Clinic at Columbia University, and possibly the law firm Davis Polk and Wardwell, which is considering taking on the case pro bono, according to Norwood resident Gwynn Smalls. 

The Law Clinic has been researching the project’s possible ramifications on environmental justice and has charged that the city vastly underestimates the plant’s effects on minority residents who live near the park, while applying much more rigorous standards to the more remote Eastview site. 

Two unusually competitive campaigns for the state legislature could also help determine the outcome of this saga, which stretches back more than a decade

The filtration plant could develop into a key issue in the race for Senate in the 30th District. The seat is currently open because longtime senator Guy Velella stepped down after pleading guilty to bribery charges.  

Assemblyman Jeffrey Klein, who is running for the Senate seat, told the Norwood News that he plans to play a key role in determining the final nature of the project. 

"I’m going to play a prominent role and the speaker assured me that I would," Klein said, referring to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, in an interview with the Norwood News last month. 

Though Klein voted to allow the park to be used, he now says there will be a greater burden on residents than he originally thought. "I’m also concerned that this is not a done deal," Klein said in a follow-up interview last Friday. "There is a lot more that has to take place before we walk away from the option of Eastview."

Stephen Kaufman, an east Bronx assemblyman running against Klein for the seat, did not return calls seeking comment. He also voted for the alienation bill last year. 

The plant could also play a role in the campaign to replace Klein in the Assembly. 
Candidate Joseph Thompson is opposed to building the plant in the park (see article on p. 5). Naomi Rivera would not comment until she officially launches her campaign this week, but it is likely that she will share the position of her father, Assemblyman Jose Rivera, chair of the Bronx County Democratic Committee. The elder Rivera led all but one member of the borough’s Assembly delegation to accept the plant-for-parks deal. 

Ed. note: To read the EIS on the Web, go to http://www.nyc.gov/-html/dep/html/news.