Ratner Promises Change After State Official Cites Violation at Atlantic Yards Site

The developers of the Atlantic Yards mega project have admitted to at least one fault.

At a contentious  Tuesday meeting between two Prospect Heights block associations and state and Forest City Ratner officials, a state official admitted that developer Forest City Ratner was in violation of an agreement by not having a community liaison at the Atlantic Yards site full time,

Rachel Shatz, vice president for planning and environmental review at the Empire State Development Corporation, said, when questioned, that because the liaison was only at the 22-acre mega-project once or twice a week, Forest City Ratner was violating the Memorandum of Environmental Commitments in which the mega developer promised to “maintain an on-site construction coordinator to function as a liaison between FCRC and the community with respect to construction-related issues.”

Joe DePlasco, a Forest City Ratner spokesman said via e-mail that while the company already has “two people who are on the site consistently and full time at least two days a week,” from now on the developer “will ensure that there is at least one person always on the site during working hours.”

Meanwhile, the ESDC’s top spokeswoman, Elizabeth Mitchell, denied that the mega-developer was ever in violation, saying that the agreement never specified how many hours the liaison had to be on site.

Peter Krashes, president of the Dean Street Block Association, called the response “bittersweet.”

“It’s a positive step that they’re responding,” he said, but added that the issue has been going on “for quite awhile.”

“The fact that it takes a public meeting and someone like me drilling down on the question to get them to respond is sad,” he said.

 He added that he wasn’t even sure the change would make a difference.

“The community liaison is only effective and responsive if the people she reports to are responsive. … At this point the trust is broken.”