ADAMS STREET — Opponents of the controversial Brooklyn House of Detention and city attorneys clashed yesterday in Kings County Supreme Court — arguing over the city’s proposal to pay millions for a design of a possible jail expansion.

While Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Sylvia Hinds-Radix had ordered that the Department of Correction (DOC) could reopen but not expand the jail without completing land use and environmental reviews, the city is now claiming that between $10 and $30 million must be spent on architectural plans to perform those reviews.

“We’ve accepted that if we’re going forward now, we can’t get to a place to do those reviews without a preliminary design,� city attorney Christopher King said in court yesterday. “They might disagree with how much money we’re spending, [but that is] utterly irrelevant to this case.�

Attorneys representing the Stop BHOD coalition, however, argued the opposite, saying that the city cannot undertake even preliminary design work without first performing other reviews.

One prominent jail opponent, City Councilman Bill De Blasio (D-Park Slope, Cobble Hill), criticized the city and DOC’s plan.

“In the middle of an economic crisis, Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg is throwing tens of millions of dollars out the window. It defies common sense to prematurely toss money into a project that has been halted by the courts, is completely unnecessary, and may never be built,� De Blasio said in a statement. Yesterday’s hearing took place because the city made a motion to reargue, resettle and renew the judge’s decision. The city is disputing Justice Hinds-Radix’s granting of expedited discovery to the petitioners, and is also asking for further clarification of her ruling.

Since that court decision, Justice Hinds-Radix was promoted to the chief post of Kings County Administrative Judge for Civil Matters. For more coverage of Justice Hinds-Radix, see story below. The city claims Justice Hinds-Radix’s decision needs clarification because City Comptroller Bill Thompson wrote in a March 30 letter to Mayor Bloomberg that he was rejecting the city’s original architectural services contract “based on the recent court order that prohibits the city from allocating any funds for the expansion of the Brooklyn House of Detention.�

The city said that Comptroller Thompson made it appear that Justice Hinds-Radix had enjoined spending any money on the expansion of the jail, while Justice Hinds-Radix in fact only ordered that no money be allocated toward “construction� in connection with the expansion of the jail.

Calls to Comptroller Thompson’s office for comment were not answered at press time.

Also, Justice Hinds-Radix originally granted expedited discovery, which Stop BHOD counsel Randy Mastro had said was a positive step towards exposing alleged wrongdoing in the city’s move of a handful of prisoners into the jail in November last year.

“Clearly, the city is nervous about that,� said Stop BHOD attorney Jim Walden, who works with Mastro at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Stop BHOD requested various pieces of documentation, as well as depositions from DOC Commissioner Martin Horn and Deputy Commissioner Florence Hutner.

But the city said discovery is not necessary because there are no material facts concerning Stop BHOD’s legal claims that are in dispute.

“Petitioners’ discovery requests will only delay the resolution of this summary proceeding,� the city wrote. “The mental impressions or intentions of these officials [Horn and Hutner] are completely irrelevant to any of petitioners’ underlying SEQRA, IJLURP and Fair Share claims.�

The Stop BHOD coalition opposed reopening the 749-bed jail, located on Atlantic Avenue between Smith Street and Boerum Place, since the city’s plan to reopen and possibly expand the jail was revealed. The jail was originally built in the 1950s, but has not housed overnight prisoners for five years.

Opponents of the jail argue that it will have a negative economic impact on the community, which has seen a substantial resurgence of local businesses and property values. Smith Street has become a nightlife destination in recent years.

Opponents have also argued more broadly that city funds should be focused on institutions like schools and not on jails.

The matter was adjourned to July 9, as Hinds-Radix had not yet received Stop BHOD’s opposition papers, partly because, after her promotion, the case temporarily was assigned to a different judge. Hon. Hinds-Radix said that she will continue to preside over the matter. “I’ve worked too hard on this case,� she said.

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