New York Methodist Hospital sued in ongoing battle over expansion in Park Slope

Any hospital or medical group expansion project will eventually face objections from a NIMBY (not in my back yard) group, and New York Methodist Hospital is facing down what may be the ultimate NIMBY group, the residents of the affluent northwest Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope.

The hospital received New York City Board of Standards and Appeals approval last month for a new 485,000-square-foot ambulatory care facility and doctors offices on land it already owns in Park Slope. According to New York Methodist’s 2012-2013 annual report, the facility would include an ambulatory surgery center, an urgent care and cancer care. However, the group Preserve Park Slope has filed suit to have that decision overturned.

“We are disappointed that a small special interest group has chosen to ignore the land use process and file this suit,” said Lyn Hill, spokesperson for New York Methodist in an interview with The Real Deal, a New York real estate publication. “It could delay the construction of the Center for Community Health, a facility that will bring much-needed access to cutting edge outpatient healthcare to Brooklyn residents. We believe the suit is without merit.”

New York magazine Curbed noted in its report that it is unlikely for the decision to be overturned by the courts, but the suit could certainly cause delays and additional legal expenses for New York Methodist Hospital. By most standards, Preserve Park Slope is an exceptionally well organized NIMBY group with a professional website, social media presence, press releases and funds for legal challenges.

The neighborhood also has a tradition of activism and legal challenges over issues much smaller than a hospital expansion. In 2012, the Park Slope Parents group gained national media attention over the lengths to which its members were going to in order to legally block ice-cream vendors from neighborhood park playgrounds.

Preserve Park Slope has posted its suit online here.