Comptroller found that Buildings did not audit requisite percentage of professionally certified building permit applications. City Comptroller John C. Liu issued an audit report on Buildings’ compliance with its rules governing the internal auditing of professionally certified building applications. The audit found, among other things, that Buildings audited a “significantly lower” number of applications than required, and that Buildings’ borough offices in Brooklyn and Queens failed to fully review certain audit applications.

The professional certification program was created in 1995 and allows registered architects and licensed engineers to “self-certify” certain building permit applications by affirming that the plans comply with all applicable codes and laws. Self-certified applications bypass examination by Buildings, but the program’s rules require Buildings to randomly audit at least 20 percent of the applications. Audits must be performed within ten days after a permit has been obtained. (more…)

Architect’s self-certified plans omitted mapped street and did not disclose need for BSA approvals. Between September 2008 and April 2009 architect Jose A. Velasquez self-certified applications to convert two buildings into three-family homes and to build two new three-family homes on a zoning lot at the corner of 103rd Street and Alstyne Avenue in Corona, Queens. The lot was occupied by four unfinished buildings partially within the bed of an unused mapped street.

Buildings audited the plans and determined that they violated zoning regulations. Among the objections, Buildings claimed that the plans did not satisfy rear-yard requirements and increased existing non-compliance. The plans did not indicate that a mapped street went through the lot. Buildings also claimed that the plans violated the multiple dwelling law by including a water closet in the cellar of three buildings and contained error regarding fire-safety requirements. Buildings petitioned to have Velasquez barred from the self-certification program for submitting multiple incorrect self-certified applications within a year. (more…)

Council action affects suspensions and revocations. By a vote of 47-0, the City Council passed two amendments to the Department of Buildings’ self-certification program. The program allows registered architects and professional engineers to bypass Buildings’ review of their plans by self-certifying that the project complies with zoning laws and the building code.

The amendments eliminate the self-certification program for certain types of work, including all demolitions as well as changes to egress, use or occupancy for one-, two-, and three-family dwellings.

The amendments also allow Buildings’ Commissioner, after a hearing at OATH, to suspend or revoke engineers’ and architects’ self-certification privileges. Grounds for suspension or revocation include knowingly or negligently certifying plans that contain false information, as well as submission within a 12-month period of two sets of certified plans that Buildings later revokes or that demonstrate incompetence or lack of knowledge. Buildings may adopt rules adding additional grounds for suspension or revocation. (more…)

Grounds for suspension of architects and engineers expanded. On January 10, 2007, the Department of Buildings adopted changes to its self-certification program, expanding grounds for exclusion and suspension of participating architects and engineers and authorizing the Commissioner of Buildings to immediately suspend participants to prevent a serious public safety threat. Included within the new grounds for suspension were cases of fraud, improper use of licenses or professional stamps, and negligence or incompetence in relation to Building’s rules and the zoning resolution.

Two speakers attended Buildings’ hearing on the proposed rules, both in opposition. Buildings also received six written comments, all opposed. After the comment period, Buildings made only one additional change, slightly altering the definition of engineers and architects. For a more comprehensive summary, see 3 CityLand 143 (Oct. 15, 2006). (more…)

Proposal would add grounds to suspend architects and engineers from program. Buildings proposed a series of amendments to its rules that would expand the grounds for suspending and permanently excluding an architect or engineer from the professional certification program and increase scrutiny of applications and plans submitted by those architects and engineers.

New grounds for suspension and exclusion would include knowing and failing to report that a project on which they worked in any capacity had a fraudulent or dishonest application filed with Buildings. Other grounds include permitting improper use of license numbers or professional stamps, failing to cooperate with Buildings investigations, misusing DOB-issued photo identification cards, altering or removing Buildings property, or attempting to bribe a public employee. (more…)