Brooklyn Heights Ass'n v. National Park Service
818 F. Supp. 2d 564, 2011 WL 2728273, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 74632 (2011)
Rule of Law:
Under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, the National Park Service may not remove federal protection from parklands included on a final grant map years after the grant's closure by claiming administrative error; such removals require adherence to the statutory conversion process involving the substitution of replacement property.
Facts:
- New York State applied for and received federal funding under the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to develop park areas in Brooklyn.
- In 2001 and 2003, state officials submitted 'Section 6(f)' maps to the National Park Service (NPS) designating specific boundaries for the federally funded project.
- These maps explicitly included two historic structures, the Tobacco Warehouse and Empire Stores, designating them for public recreational use.
- The NPS approved the grants, the project was completed, and the grant period formally closed.
- More than five years after the grant closed, the NPS attempted to amend the maps to remove the Tobacco Warehouse and Empire Stores.
- The NPS justified this removal by claiming the structures were included on the original maps by mistake and were not intended for public recreation.
- Removing these structures from the map would eliminate the federal requirement that the state provide substitute parkland of equal value if the properties were converted to non-public use.
Procedural Posture:
- Plaintiffs filed a civil action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York against the National Park Service and state developers alleging violations of LWCFA, NEPA, and NHPA.
- The District Court granted the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction to halt any alteration or construction on the disputed structures.
- Plaintiffs, along with the Developer Defendants (BBPDC and BBPC), filed cross-motions for summary judgment regarding the federal and state claims.
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Issue:
Does the National Park Service have the authority under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act to amend a final grant map to remove protected properties five years after the grant's closure based on an alleged administrative error, thereby bypassing the statutory requirement to provide substitute parkland?
Opinions:
Majority - Vitaliano
No, the National Park Service lacks the authority to remove properties from a finalized grant map years after the fact without following the statutory conversion process. The Court reasoned that the agency's factual claim of a 'mistake' was implausible given the state's clear intent to develop the sites as gardens. Legally, the LWCFA and NPS regulations dictate that once a grant closes, boundary maps cannot be changed to exclude property unless a 'conversion' occurs, which strictly requires replacing the lost parkland. While agencies possess inherent authority to reconsider decisions, that power must be exercised within a 'reasonable time,' typically measured in weeks or months, not five years.
Analysis:
This decision reinforces the permanence of federal protections for parklands funded by the LWCF and strictly limits agency revisionism. By rejecting the 'mistake' defense five years post-closing, the court prevents administrative agencies from using map corrections as a loophole to bypass the expensive and difficult statutory requirement of providing substitute land when parkland is taken for commercial or other uses. The ruling ensures that the public trust created by federal grants cannot be undone by belated bureaucratic changes, securing taxpayer-funded recreational spaces against future development pressures.
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