Citizens Emergency Committee to Preserve Preservation v. Tierney

Citizens Emergency Committee to Preserve Preservation (CEPP) (plaintiff) was a citizen advocacy association made up of New York residents and historic-preservation experts dedicated to supporting the preservation of New York City’s cultural and architectural history. CEPP initiated a mandamus proceeding to compel the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) (defendant) to ensure a more fair and transparent process for landmark designation. CEPP’s petition included a prayer for general relief, including a demand that each request for evaluation (RFE) reach a final disposition in a timely matter, in public, and on the record after review by the entire LPC. CEPP also sought specific relief on behalf of six properties whose requests for evaluation had been pending for several years. The LPC opposed CEPP’s petition on the grounds that CEPP had no standing to bring suit, CEPP failed to state a cause of action because the LPC’s discretion over consideration for landmark designation was statutorily exclusive, and the LPC’s procedure for consideration was already fair. The procedure largely involved a five-person RFE committee that met every two to four weeks to review each RFE and forward those that met the threshold criteria for landmark designation on to each commissioner for comment. After comments were made, the RFE was returned to the chairperson of the committee, who then decided whether the RFE would be calendared for a public hearing to be heard by the whole commission. With respect to the six properties for which CEPP sought specific relief, the LPC conceded that five of the properties were meritorious. The trial court held that CEPP had standing and considered the petition.