ALBANY – The power of eminent domain can legally be invoked by the state to purchase and clear private property for developer Bruce C. Ratner’s massive Atlantic Yards project, the Court of Appeals ruled yesterday in a 6-1 decision.
Four of the seven judges, in a majority ruling by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, said the state had sufficiently shown that the Brooklyn project area containing the private parcels was “blighted” and subject to condemnation under the state Constitution, although he conceded that definitions of urban blight established during the Great Depression may have to be updated.
