Requires notice to adjoining owners of construction, excavation or demolition work

1 Co-sponsor

• Leroy Comrie

Title of bill

An act to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to permits for construction, excavation or demolition

Purpose or general idea of bill

This bill would require notice to owners of adjoining property before construction, excavation or demolition work is performed.

Summary of specific provisions

This bill would:

*require the New York City Department of Buildings (NYC DOB) to provide written notification to adjoining property owners when an application for approval of construction documents and when an application for a permit is submitted to the Department; *add excavation to the list of construction work that requires a person who obtains a permit for such work to procure and maintain insurance coverage for adjacent properties; *add excavation to the list of construction work that requires proof of insurance coverage for adjacent properties to be submitted to the New York City Department of Buildings when applying for a permit; and, *require NYC DOB to provide proof of such insurance and a copy of the permit to owners of adjoining property thirty days before construction, excavation or demolition work begins except in the event that emergency work is authorized as defined in section 28-105.4.1 of this code; and *require, if such emergency work is necessary, the permit and proof of insurance to be provided to owners of adjoining property within a reasonable timeframe.

Justification

Construction, demolition, or excavation work which is performed on a building which shares a wall with the neighboring building is always complicated, and the consequences of performing that work, especially as they relate to threats to public safety, must be considered before the work is performed. In some instances the neighbor will actually be able to provide information which can highlight some potentially dangerous conditions so they can be properly addressed.

This is illustrated by a building collapse which occurred in June 2009. The building 493 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn NY collapsed in large part because the engineers and contractors were unaware of a several significant several story vertical cracks which were clearly visible to tenants at 491 Myrtle Avenue. As a result, the appropriate precautions were not followed, and 493 Myrtle collapsed to the ground. Several people were injured and fourteen were left homeless. Thankfully, no one lost their lives. Had this legislation been in place this unfortunate incident would not have occurred. It is imperative that this legislature does what it can to avoid future avoidable accidents.

Prior legislative history

2013-14: A.3722 2011-12: A.317-A 2009-10: A.10511-B

Fiscal implications

None to the State.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.