BUILDINGS COMMISSIONER DETAILS KEY ISSUES AT CNYC's 1998 ANNUAL MEETING

DOB Commissioner Gaston Silva

Buildings Department Commissioner Gaston Silva was the keynote speaker at CNYC's annual meeting on Wednesday, March 11, 1998. Commissioner Silva reviewed the jurisdiction of the Department of Buildings and spoke specifically about four issues of particular concern to CNYC members:

1. Modifications to Local Law 10 requiring inspection of all facades of any building six stories high or higher;

2. Revised procedures for amending Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) when apartments are combined;

3. Licensing of general contractors and construction managers; and

4. Requirements for the installation of garbage disposals.

Commissioner Silva is an architect who has been in government service for more than a decade. He was appointed Commissioner of Buildings by Mayor Giuliani in August 1996.

The Department of Buildings is the enforcement arm of the City's System of land-use regulation. It is charged with the enforcement of the Buildings Code, the Zoning Law and the Multiple Dwelling Law. It has offices in each borough headed by a Borough Commissioner.

FACADE INSPECTION
Commissioner Silva reminded the audience of the series of recent accidents involving masonry falling from high rise buildings -- one that forced closing of a portion of Madison Avenue for many days during the Christmas season, another at a building on lower Broadway, and a third at the Belleclaire Hotel on West 77th Street. To prevent future occurrences of this sort of accident, the City has passed Intro-A which revises the requirements of Local Law 10 of 1980, legislation that requires facade inspection. Introduced at the request of the Mayor, Intro 97-A is designed to enhance public safety by correcting deficiencies which the Department of Buildings has found in the existing law.

Intro 97-A requires that all exterior walls in buildings greater than six stories be inspected, unless they are less than 12" from an adjacent building. Since 1982, Local Law 10 of 1980 has required building owners to have inspections performed and reports filed only on those facades that front on a street or a pedestrian walkway. Intro 97-A will require owners to have all other parts of their buildings inspected by March 2000.

In addition to the 360-degree inspection of the building, Intro 97-A further requires the engineer or architect who conducts the inspection to immediately notify the Department of Buildings if an unsafe, potentially life-threatening condition is discovered. In the past, the professional would simply notify the client of such a discovery and then cite it in the Local Law 10 report if it was not yet corrected.

Finally, the current category of "precautionary" is eliminated, and professionals will be required to characterize buildings either as "safe", "unsafe" or "safe with a repair and maintenance program". If this third classification is used, then the report for the ensuing Local Law 10 cycle must include certification that all items previously listed as needing repair or maintenance have been fixed. To date, architects and engineers have tended to use the category "precautionary" to list items which are carried over from cycle to cycle without being remedied. Intro 97-A eliminates this practice.

Commissioner Silva and CNYC Executive Director Mary Ann Rothman

The Department of Buildings will promulgate rules for complying with the additional requirements, including means of integrating the additional filing with the regular cycles of Local Law 10. It is meeting with industry leaders to establish reasonable parameters for this transition, including the possibility of widening the filing window for the next Local Law 10 cycle. The Commissioner promised that draft rules would shortly be published in the City Record and that a public hearing would be held before the rules were finalized.

Commissioner Silva was optimistic that Intro 97-A will result in a safer city through more thorough inspections of buildings greater than six stories, more timely maintenance and repair of these buildings, and immediate notification to the Department of Buildings of unsafe conditions. He brought copies of the law for interested participants.

In the question-and-answer period, CNYC vice president Arthur Weinstein expressed concern about the total elimination of the "precautionary" category, stating that many professionals currently used this category to recommend monitoring of a minor condition that could escalate but that presently requires no remediation. He asked if monitoring recommendations would be acceptable to the Department under Intro 97-A. Commissioner Silva agreed to take this under advisement.

CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY
Under Commissioner Silva's direction, the DOB has simplified its policy regarding Certificates of Occupancy (C of O). He brought copies of DOB Technical Policy and Procedure Notice #3/97 (text provided on this Website) for interested participants.

A building's Certificate of Occupancy typically needs to be amended for a change in use, such as creating a roof garden or changing a residential apartment to a professional apartment or vice versa, an enlargement or addition, such as a penthouse or extension, or a reconfiguration that INCREASES the total number of apartments. Combining apartments -- and thereby reducing the total unit count -- does not require that an amended Certificate of Occupancy be issued.

Whenever alteration work is done, appropriate filings, approvals and permits are required from the DOB. For a simple combination of apartments, when egress is not impeded, the architect or engineer can sign off on the alteration (Alt II). For more extensive work (Alt I), DOB inspection and sign-off are required.

The Commissioner cautioned against overzealousness in amending Certificates of Occupancy. If your building is "overbuilt" relative to today's zoning criteria and you chose to amend the C of O to reflect a reduced number of units, at a later time you may not be able to legally separate the units because of zoning changes that were enacted after the construction of your building.

LICENSING OF GENERAL CONTRACTORS AND CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS
Commissioner Silva reported that the DOB is pursuing additional legislation to increase public safety and consumer protection by requiring that the individuals supervising work on site be licensed. The intent is to assign accountability to contractors for safe construction practices, code compliance and oversight of their subcontractors. Legislation is currently being drafted by the Law Department.

GARBAGE DISPOSALS
In August 1997, a law was passed to allow the installation of garbage disposal units in New York city buildings. These installations require DOB permits. The work must be performed by a licensed plumber and, when necessary, a licensed electrician.

Commissioner Silva brought interested participants information on the application procedures. You may read more about this topic on this Website under In the Building (Winter 1998 Newsletter), or on the DOB Website at http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dob/html/garbage.html.

The Commissioner also brought brochures about the Department of Buildings and about IVR. He invited participates to visit the DOB Website at http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dob/home.html and graciously answered many participant questions.

You can review reports on previous annual meetings in the CNYC Newsletter Archive.