In 2009, Forest City Ratner Companies and the State of New York renegotiated the Atlantic Yards plan. As they did so, they attempted to conceal a change in the project's schedule from ten years to twenty five years.

In July of 2011, a State Supreme Court ruled that the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) approved the modified plan illegally because of its failure to disclose the additional fifteen years of construction time. The court found that additional analyses of the effects of such a protracted period of construction should have been prepared, and submitted for public comment, before the plan was approved. The court therefore ordered ESDC to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS), and reconsider the approval of the 2009 modified plan.

A key part of an SEIS is the study of alternative plans. Given the profound affect of 25 years of protracted construction on the surrounding communities, the State has an obligation to find ways to reduce negative impacts—even if those alternatives result in significant changes to the project, like restoring the original 10-year schedule.