The Metropolis Council accepted a legislative package deal Wednesday afternoon to cut back the variety of scaffolding buildings on New York Metropolis streets.
The package deal of 5 payments takes goal on the short-term metal and picket scaffolding buildings – often called scaffolding sheds – that line and darken hundreds of sidewalks all through the 5 boroughs of New York Metropolis whereas preserving members of the general public secure from falling particles.
Sidewalk sheds usually adorn the aspect of metropolis buildings for greater than a yr, obscuring well-known buildings and creating important lighting points on numerous metropolis streets and sidewalks. In July 2023, for instance, QNS reported that scaffolding buildings have been constant options at outstanding courthouses all through Queens for nearly 5 years, together with the Queens County Prison Court docket at 125-01 Queens Blvd. and the Supreme Court docket of Queens County at 88-11 Sutphin Blvd. in Jamaica.
Development sheds and scaffolding on the Sutphin Avenue courthouse advanced.Photograph by Ethan Marshall
Crain’s New York reported that the town’s estimated 8,500 sidewalk sheds boast a median lifespan of 500 days, with advocates for the legislative package deal stating that the buildings obscure buildings from the general public and make sidewalks poorly-lit for pedestrians.
Mayor Eric Adams, who allied with the Metropolis Council for the “Get Sheds Down” initiative in July 2023, celebrated passage of the 5 payments Wednesday afternoon, stating that the times of permitting scaffolding to “languish” on New York Metropolis streets are at an finish.
“These revitalized rules will help the New York City Department of Buildings remove unsightly scaffolding and ensure that sidewalks sheds are safer, more secure, and more visually appealing when they go up for a limited amount of time,” Adams mentioned in an announcement Wednesday afternoon. “Above all, they will allow us to reclaim valuable space for the public and let the light back onto our sidewalks.”
The 5 payments goal to handle a number of long-standing complaints over sidewalk sheds, together with the size of time that sheds may be erected for and the aesthetic look of the sheds.
The package deal additionally makes an attempt to reverse a number of necessities launched by the decades-old Native Regulation 11, which requires landlords to examine their constructing facades each 5 years and erect sidewalk sheds throughout every inspection.
Intro 393A, for instance, will scale back the allow size for brand spanking new sidewalk sheds linked to facade inspection from one yr to a few months.
Manhattan Council Member Keith Powers Credit score: William Alatriste/NYC Council Media Unit
The invoice, launched by Manhattan Council Member Keith Powers, has additionally launched new penalties for constructing house owners who don’t conduct repairs in a well timed method, beginning at $10 per linear foot per 30 days and rising to a most of $6,000 per 30 days.
Landlords can, nevertheless, renew their three-month permits if they’ll show monetary hardship, struggles accessing a neighboring property or different points impacting needed repairs at a constructing.
Powers launched two different payments within the legislative package deal, together with Intro 394A, which pushes again facade inspections for brand spanking new buildings from 5 years to eight years. The invoice additionally eliminates the town’s present five-year Façade Inspection and Security Program (FISP) cycle and requires the Division of Buildings to determine an extended interval time between inspections. The DOB will make an official willpower on the brand new size of cycles throughout the summer season, with the up to date window set between six and 12 years.
Intro 391A – the third and last invoice launched by Powers as a part of the legislative package deal – requires the DOB to advocate new sidewalk shed designs to the Metropolis Council by September 2025 in a bid to enhance the looks of the sheds throughout the town.
The invoice additionally requires the DOB to advertise the usage of containment netting as a substitute for sidewalk sheds and moreover expands the allowable shade palette of sidewalk sheds past hunter inexperienced, to incorporate metallic grey, white or a shade matching the façade, trim, cornice or roof of the constructing.
Structure corporations PAU and Arup US are already designing potential options to the present sidewalk sheds in use throughout the town, with the corporations’ reviews due this summer season. Underneath the brand new laws, the DOB is required to share the outcomes of that research with the Metropolis Council.
Erik Bottcher, who launched the ultimate two payments of the legislative package deal, has additionally tried to clamp down on sheds that stay erected for a number of years via Intro 661A, which introduces penalties of between $5,000 and $20,000 for facade repairs that aren’t accomplished on time.
Landlords who’ve recognized unsafe situations throughout inspections of constructing facades could have 5 months to submit building paperwork to the DOB; eight months to submit needed allow purposes; and two years to totally conduct facade repairs or they are going to be responsible for penalties beneath the phrases of the newly-passed laws.
Bottcher’s Intro 660A, the fifth and last invoice included within the legislative package deal, will double the lighting required in public walkways beneath sidewalk sheds in a bid to enhance security for members of the general public.
Council Member Sandra Ung, who sponsored 4 of the 5 payments accepted by the Metropolis Council, mentioned the package deal addressed a much-needed challenge in communities throughout New York Metropolis, stating that sidewalk sheds negatively affect native companies and create issues of safety for native residents.
“For far too long, scaffolding has been allowed to linger in our communities, creating safety hazards, hurting small businesses, and diminishing our streetscapes,” Ung mentioned in an announcement.
Flushing Council Member Sandra Ung. Credit score: Emil Cohen/NYC Council Media Unit
Ung, who represents Council District 20 together with components of Flushing, mentioned sidewalk sheds in her district are “not just an eyesore” however characterize a real menace to public security.
“This package of bills will ensure that scaffolding comes down faster, is better designed while in place, and is no longer used as a way for property owners to delay necessary repairs,” Ung mentioned in an announcement.
The Actual Property Board of New York (REBNY), who pushed the council to undertake softer laws to supply landlords with means to flee fines for issues they may not management, counseled each the Adams Administration and the Metropolis Council for listening to considerations of the actual property trade.
Daniel Avery, director of coverage at REBNY, mentioned in an announcement that there are nonetheless points to “work out” within the rulemaking course of however added that REBNY is assured that each one payments will likely be truthful and efficient.
“We commend the bills’ sponsors, City Council and Administration for considering the concerns from our industry on this topic and advancing legislation that will spur more user-friendly and creative sidewalk sheds,” Avery mentioned in an announcement. “There are still issues to work out in the rulemaking process, but we are confident all stakeholders can work together to make these bills fair and effective.”
