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LOWER EAST SIDE ACTIVIST CHALLENGES D.O.B. ON NEW REGULATION.

by Joelle Panisch

Lower East Side activist Rob Hollander continues to fight the Department of Buildings on new procedures that would put a 30-day cap on the amount of time residents have to challenge the legality of new developments.  Hollander argues that the time limit does not allow sufficient notice for the community to organize objections, and because it is currently the only check in place (developers are aloud to ‘self-certify’ buildings) it encourages illegal development.

To read a past SoHo Journal report on this issue click here. 
 
In a mass email Hollander wrote:
 
The Department of Buildings is about to change the Rules of New York City to allow developers to build illegally anywhere in the city.
 
The new regulation gives the public exactly thirty days to challenge the legality of a building plan, but the developer does not have to post any notification at the construction site where the public might see it, but only on a city website. So, in order for the public to find out about a new development, the public has to monitor the DoB website constantly. If the thirty days slip by without notice, the development cannot be challenged regardless how illegal it is.
 
This rule encourages even honest developers to submit illegal plans. They have nothing to lose. If challenged, they modify their plans at little expense, not having actually begun construction. The new rule makes it unlikely that their plans will be noticed & challenged within the thirty days.
 
DoB will hold a hearing March 6th, 3pm, at 280 Broadway, 3rd floor. I've attached the hearing notice which includes the wording of the new rule.
 
The key sentence occurs at the top of page 2: "The public shall have thirty days from the date of posting an approval by the department to challenge the approval, whether or not a permit has been issued." When a permit is issued, it must be posted in three days. But the rule allows developers to wait until the thirty days have passed before applying for the permit ("whether or not a permit has been issued"). This is unmistakably designed to allow developers to hide from the public.
 
If this rule is approved, zoning is effectively meaningless. Already the city allows developers to self-certify their plans -- in other words, the city doesn't even look to see if the plans are legal. It leaves that to the developer himself -- fox guarding the henhouse -- and the general public which the rule keeps in the dark until it's too late.
 
The public should be up in arms. It's the most cynical undermining of the rule of law I've ever seen.
 
Rob Hollander, Ph.D, is an academic linguist.   He devotes much of his time to neighborhood preservation and is a vocal activist against overdevelopment in the bowery. 
 
For more information on hist views go to his blog, Save The Lower East Side.
 
 
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