Two nonprofit organizations and two residents of Battery Park City in lower Manhattan filed a lawsuit in September 2025 in a New York Supreme Court challenging the Battery Park City Authority’s (BPCA’s) approval of the second phase of the Battery Park City Coastal Resiliency Project. The petition alleged that the Resiliency Project “radically transforms the parks and public spaces of Battery Park City, in order to establish a new flood protection system comprised of flood walls, gates, and drainage infrastructure” to protect residents and businesses from sea level rise and coastal flooding. The petitioners asserted that BPCA violated the State Environmental Quality Review Act, including by improperly segmenting the review of the two phases of the project and by failing to timely complete the first phase of the project with appropriate mitigation measures. The petitioners also alleged that by failing to examine the Resiliency Project’s cumulative impacts, including cumulative impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, the BPCA violated the Green Amendment of the New York Constitution. In addition, the petitioners asserted that the BPCA alienated parkland without legislative approval in violation of the public trust doctrine.

Challenge to the approval of the second phase of the Battery Park City Coastal Resiliency Project in lower Manhattan.

Battery Alliance v. Battery Park City Authority

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Lawsuit Challenged Resiliency Project in Lower Manhattan

Filed

United States of America

New York

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Lawsuit Challenged Resiliency Project in Lower Manhattan

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance