Sidewalk canopies and scaffolding, which sometimes surround buildings for years, could eventually be removed as part of a campaign Mayor Eric Adams unveiled on Monday to allow building owners to use less invasive measures instead.
”They block out sunlight, keep pedestrians out of businesses and attract illegal activity,” the Chelsea mayor said on Monday of the “ugly green boxes” often found on city streets.
Shacks can also serve as “safe havens for criminal activity” and the city’s own rules make them difficult to remove, he said.
“Honestly, when we did our analysis, we realized that city rules encourage homeowners to leave the barn and put off important work,” Adams said. “Most of the sheds have been standing for over a year, and some have been darkening our streets for over a decade.”
According to city data, there are currently 9,000 approved canopies covering nearly 400 miles of city streets that are 500 days old on average. .
According to the Department of Buildings Façade and Safety Plan, the façade of any building above six stories must be inspected every five years.
If any structural problems are found, walkway awnings should be installed by the owner to protect people from falling debris.
Under Adams’ new plan, the Department of Buildings will be able to end up inspecting buildings less frequently without compromising pedestrian safety, officials said.
”We will take a close look at the review process, Cycle 11 of the local law,” City Building Commissioner Jimmy Oddo said Monday.
”We’ve driven the rest of the country, but every five years isn’t right for every building of every age and every material.”
The Building Department will also begin allowing homeowners to use safety nets instead of awnings.
City agencies will now have to consider installing safety nets instead of sidewalk canopies during the construction of some city buildings.
According to city records, the City’s Department of Municipal Administrative Services will make its first attempt to install netting at the Supreme Court Building on Sutfin Avenue in Queens in place of the sidewalk awnings erected in April 2017.
The building department also plans to allow owners to install art on barns and change their color instead of requiring them to be hunter green.
They will also look for new sidewalk shack ideas, which is what Michael Bloomberg did when he was mayor in 2010 when his administration authorized a design described as an “oversized umbrella.” Follow local law number 11.
The city passed the legislation in 1979 after Grace Gold, a student at Barnard College, was crushed to death by loose masonry.
In December 2019, 60-year-old architect Erika Tishman died when a broken facade fell from an office building in the city center; the building’s owner was later criminally charged. In 2015, 2-year-old Greta Green died after falling bricks from a building on the Upper West Side.
More recently, in April, a brick fell out of Jackson’s home in the Bronx after inspectors repeatedly found it in poor condition. No one was hurt from the fall of the brick.
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Post time: Jul-26-2023