Board found that prior corrected violations justified increased penalty for glass panel broken by snapped cable. On December 10, 2008 a glass panel fell from the 50th floor of One Bryant Park in Midtown, Manhattan after being struck by a steel safety netting cable. Buildings issued a notice of violation to the contractor, Tishman Construction Corporation, for failing to safeguard persons and property while working on the building. The issuing officer noted that similar incidents involving falling glass occurred at the site in May and September of 2008 and charged Tishman with an aggravated violation and increased fine.

At a hearing before an ALJ, Tishman argued that it took all necessary safety precautions and that a mechanical defect caused the cable to snap. Tishman further argued that it should not be charged with an aggravated offense because it stipulated to or corrected the prior violations. Buildings countered that the fact the cable snapped and broke the glass indicated that Tishman failed to maintain safety measures. To support the increased fine, Buildings submitted a computer record showing 39 NOVs against Tishman, nineteen of which were upheld or settled. The ALJ upheld the NOV and found that the evidence established a history of non-compliance warranting an increased penalty. (more…)

Building’s facade buckled two-and one- half-years after engineer’s report. Richard Lefever, a licensed engineer, examined the facade of a building and filed a report with Buildings in February 2007. In the report, Lefever had the option of designating the facade as safe, unsafe, or safe with a repair and maintenance program (SWARMP). Lefever chose the third option, because he identified facade conditions that required repairs within two years to avoid deteriorating into unsafe conditions. The owner failed to make repairs within the two-year time frame, and in August 2009 a portion of the exterior masonry of the wall buckled. The condition exposed the public to the threat of falling debris.

Buildings issued a notice of violation to Lefever for filing a false statement. According to Buildings, Levefer’s designation of the facade as SWARMP amounted to a false statement given the history of numerous repairs to the building’s facade and Levefer’s knowledge of such repairs. Lefever defended that his SWARMP designation was warranted since the building facade needed only repair and not immediate corrective action. (more…)

New historic district in Chelsea consists of twelve rowhouses and includes Underground Railroad stop. Landmarks voted to designate as the Lamartine Place Historic District twelve rowhouses located at 333 through 359 West 29th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, Manhattan. William Torrey and Cyrus Mason built the three-and-a-half story Greek Revival rowhouses between 1846 and 1847 on what was then known as Lamartine Place.

James S. Gibbons and his wife, Abigail Hopper Gibbons, a renowned abolitionist, purchased the building at 337 West 29th Street in 1851. A short time later the Gibbons family also purchased the house next door at 339 West 29th Street. Family friend Joseph Hodges Choate cited 339 as being a stop on the Underground Railroad, noting that he dined with the Gibbons and a fugitive slave at the residence in 1855. Several homes on Lamartine Place were damaged during the Draft Riots of 1863, including 339 and a rowhouse at 335 owned by the New York Tribune editor Samuel Sinclair. (more…)

Architect self-certified applications with incorrect zoning. Architect David Nagan was hired in 2004 to prepare a zoning analysis for two adjacent lots in Queens. Nagan determined the lots were in an R3 district, which allowed for the construction of two, two-family semidetached homes with a common wall along the lot line. In April of 2005, the City Council rezoned the lots to R3X, a zoning district that prohibited semi-detached homes. About six months after the zoning change, Nagan submitted two self-certified applications to Buildings for permits to construct both semidetached homes. Buildings granted the applications, and construction was completed in 2006.

After Buildings performed an audit, it determined that the zoning designation for each application was incorrect and petitioned to have Nagan excluded from the self-certification program. The petition cited a recently enacted Administrative Code amendment that required mandatory sanctions against an architect who submitted two incorrect self-certified applications within a 12-month period. At his hearing, Nagan argued that the recently enacted amendment should not retroactively apply to the applications he submitted two years before the amendment was passed. (more…)