You Think the Port Authority's Ready to Build a New Bus Terminal? Not so fast.

For years, plans for a new Port Authority Bus Terminal nudged along as slowly as a coach making its way through the Lincoln Tunnel, largely unnoticed by the city's political class. That changed suddenly Thursday as elected officials representing Manhattan's West Side joined with the de Blasio administration in a whirlwind of opposition to the transportation agency's plans.

"The decision's already been made that they're going to move the bus terminal a block west," said Congressman Jerry Nadler, a Democrat who represents the West Side and part of Brooklyn. "And use eminent domain. That's unacceptable."

Speaking at the agency's monthly board meeting, Nadler resurrected an idea that New Jersey appointees to the bi-state Port Authority thought it had killed earlier this year: building the terminal...in New Jersey.

"I don't know what the right choice is," said Nadler, "but to automatically assume that nothing should be done in New Jersey, only in New York." He added, "It's just a very bad planning process."

The Port Authority has been struggling since 2013 with how to replace the bus terminal, which is overcrowded and growing old. In March, it moved forward with a design competition as part of a grand compromise: the New York side of the agency would agree to a new terminal for New Jersey commuters if the New Jersey side allowed the Port to go forward with one of New York's priorities — the redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport. 

That delicate compromise within the agency is now being threatened by opposition from without. 

"It makes no sense whatsoever to propose this without involving city agencies and all the local communities so you get some agreement," she said Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.

As if that wasn't enough, state Assembly Member Richard Gottfried reminded board members that West Side residents have a good batting average when it comes to derailing large, neighborhood-displacing projects, like the Westway road and park project in the 1970s and 1980s — or, more recently, a stadium.

"Nobody has gotten to visit the Jets football stadium in Hell's Kitchen," Gottfried said. "There's a long history of people who thought they would beat the Hell's Kitchen community and didn't quite make it."

In response, Port Authority Chairman John Degnan defended the agency's planning process and said the $1 million design competition for the new terminal was just a preliminary step.

"Taking private property for purposes of building the bus terminal is to be discouraged," Degnan said. ("That's meaningless," Nadler later told reporters. "What 'discouraged' means is they'll give a reason why they should do it.")

Degnan continued, saying he was not Robert Moses, the famous master planner who railroaded projects through despite opposition.

"In the end, folks, the only thing that's going to be derived from this design and deliverability concept is a concept," he said. "There is no way that this bus terminal can be built by overriding the legitimate concerns of elected public officials and community board members and community members themselves. And of course, it goes without saying, the regulatory oversight that legitimately belongs with the city of New York."

The city wielded that oversight in a statement issued earlier Thursday by Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris.

"New York City has significant concerns with the process that the Port Authority of NY and NJ has undertaken thus far," he wrote. "Replacing it represents one of the most significant infrastructure challenges in the city over the next decade and demands a rigorous and transparent planning process."

Shorris called on the agency to "reconsider the current competition process, and begin a comprehensive public engagement and planning process that considers all possible options for a new terminal and views the project in an appropriate regional context."

Degnan said the agency was in discussion to convene a meeting for Community Board 4 and design competition participants.