The City Council has unanimously approved the ‘Stalled Buildings Bill’.  Earlier this week, we covered the basics behind the bill.  The hundreds of stalled sites throughout the City can now enter the program and ensure, for the time being, that they can retain their permits (potentially vesting them under the old building code, the current zoning, and preventing possible landmarking issues).

On Wednesday, the Council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings unanimously approved the bill, sending it to the full Council.  Before voting on it, however, they made some amendments to the bill.  While it will not be easy or cheap to participate (and remain in good standing) in the stalled sites program, the benefits to developers, property owners, and their lenders is huge.  The City Council’s move to create this program will go a long way towards addressing community concerns surrounding the safety of stalled construction sites while also providing a major benefit to developers during the down market.

The updated bill – 1015A – now has a detailed list of what needs to be included in the maintenance and safety plan. 

These include:

•  the maintenance of construction fencing with view panels including the posting of work permits and removal of any illegal flyers or posters;
•  the installation of proper shoring of excavated sites or backfilling;
• the removal of snow and ice on the sidewalks abutting the site and the removal of snow and ice on the site that poses a potential danger to members of the public;
•  the maintenance of any installed fire suppression and detection systems;
• the removal of any volatile gases and liquids;
• the removal of stagnant water from any excavation sites;
• the removal of construction debris or garbage;
• the removal of any excess vegetation and graffiti;
• the monitoring of all such required measures;
• the correction of any adjudicated and outstanding violations issued to the site;
• the payment of any unpaid fines or civil penalties resulting from the adjudication of any violations issued to the site.

In addition, the amended bill requires that the DOB Commissioner post on the DOB website a weekly-updated list of sites participating in the program, as well as the reason for their removal from the program.  Once this list is up, we’ll provide a link.

The bill must now be signed by the Mayor.