Resistance against the Bruckner Boulevard rezoning has continued past its approval, with local residents filing a lawsuit against the city this month.
Buffalo-based environmental lawyer Richard Lippes is representing the Bronx Coalition Against Up Zoning Inc., an organization led by John Cerini, a 52-year-old accountant and insurance agent in Throggs Neck who was born and raised in the neighborhood. In the suit against New York City, the Department of City Planning and the City Council, Lippes argues that the city’s planning department did not properly conduct the necessary environmental review for the rezoning project. The lawsuit, which calls for the zoning to be invalidated, cites Article 78, a measure that allows for challenges of agency decisions.
The lawsuit was filed on Feb. 13 in Bronx Supreme Court and the city has not yet responded.
The rezoning was approved unanimously by the City Council in October 2022 with Mayor Eric Adams’ support after local Councilmember Marjorie Velázquez reversed her stance on the project. The plan is supposed to bring 348 units across four sites on Bruckner Boulevard with 192 designated as affordable, including 99 units for seniors and 25 for veterans. While the project area is adjacent to the Bruckner Expressway, it falls in a low density growth management area where residents against the proposal have clung to their suburban zoning.
“I want the community to know this is not over yet,” Cerini told the Bronx Times. “Because a lot of people have given up hope, and we want them to know this challenge is still on, the fight is still alive.”
Cerini started a GoFundMe to fundraise in September 2021, which has since raised $46,487 across 432 donors, to crowdfund the legal effort. That month, he set a goal of $30,000, and the initiative garnered $25,000 by December 2021, at which point organizers said they retained Lippes. Unsure of how much the lawsuit will cost overall, Cerini is continuing to fundraise, with ahere