ALJ orders closure of Bronx property due to illegal use

Occupants illegally used driveway and yard of residential property for automobile repair, salvage, and dead storage. Between 2009 and 2011 the Department of Buildings sent inspectors six times to 610 Mead Street in the Van Nest section of the Bronx. The R5-zoned property contained a two-story, two-family building with a one-car garage on the first floor. The inspectors observed over the course of their visits automobiles in various states of repair in the driveway, including a damaged vehicle with its front end removed, and two cars under repair with one elevated on a jack and one without a license plate. The inspectors also observed in the property’s rear yard automobile parts, garbage, additional unlicensed vehicles, tires, junk storage, and automobile parts. Buildings sought an order to seal the premises under the padlock law to halt an alleged public nuisance.

OATH ALJ Ingrid A. Addison found that the use of the driveway and rear yard constituted a public nuisance. ALJ Addison found that automobile repair and dead storage were commercial uses, and junk salvage storage was a manufacturing use, neither of which were permitted. At the OATH hearing, the property owner settled with Buildings agreeing to have the illegal uses discontinued. The occupants and mortgagees of the property did not appear. ALJ Addison recommended the closure of the driveway and yard portions of premises, while maintaining access to the residence.

DOB v. Owners of 610 Mead Street, Bronx, OATH Index No. 815/12 (Jan. 26, 2012). CITYADMIN

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