175 Grand Street, Brooklyn

Company argued that two promotional contest signs installed at bodega were accessory signs. On September 9, 2010, the City’s Department of Buildings issued four notices of violation to Contest Promotions NY LLC for two signs installed at the New Grocery and Deli located at 175 Grand Street in Brooklyn. Contest Promotions is a promotional company that works with businesses to promote contests and sweepstakes. The sign featured advertisements for the Nikita television program and the Topman clothing store. Directly above the advertisements, each sign featured small text for a promotional contest that read, “Free posters, while supplies last – Enter here to win great prizes.” Two NOVs charged violations of the City’s zoning resolution for installing advertising signs in an area where such signs were prohibited. The other two NOVs charged violations of the City’s building code for illegally installing signs without a building permit while acting as an unregistered outdoor advertising company.

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2422 West 1st Street, Brooklyn

Brooklyn property with two-family home was being used as contractor yard, junk salvage, and for commercial vehicle storage. Between December 2011 and April 2012, the City Department of Buildings sent inspectors three times to 2422 West 1st Street between Avenues X and Y in Gravesend, Brooklyn. The R4 residentially zoned lot is occupied by a two-story, two-family home. The inspectors, during their visits, observed in the property’s rear and side yards construction equipment and tools; wood, bricks, and plastic containers; and a commercial vehicle advertising N.B. Construction. The property’s certificate of occupancy permits only a two-family dwelling, and no commercial or manufacturing uses are permitted on the property as of right. Buildings sought an order to seal the lots under the padlock law to halt an alleged public nuisance.

Prior to a hearing at OATH, one of the property’s co-owners agreed to discontinue the illegal use. Another co-owner, Mohammed Ghuman, and BNY Mortgage Co. LLC, failed to appear at the hearing. ALJ Astrid B. Gloade credited Buildings’ evidence that the owner and occupants had used the lot to store commercial vehicles, an impermissible commercial use, and as a contractor’s yard and salvage storage yard, both impermissible manufacturing uses. The uses violated both the zoning resolution and the property’s certificate of occupancy. ALJ Gloade recommended that Buildings seal the property in a way that would not impede on the residential portion of the premises.

DOB v. 2422 West 1 Street, Brooklyn, OATH Index No. 1909/12 (July 24, 2012).

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.

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Tenants in loft law units sought rent regulation protection based on 2010 amendments. 59 Crosby Street in Manhattan was an interim multiple dwelling covered under the 1982 loft law. This law required an owner to convert an interim multiple dwelling building into legal residential premises and obtain a certificate of occupancy. The owners of 59 Crosby in 1984 purchased the rights and improvements to the fifth-floor interim multiple dwelling unit from the then-current tenant. In 1992 the owners purchased the rights and improvements to the second-floor interim multiple dwelling unit, also from the then-current tenants.   (read more…)

Owner of vacant residential lots stored vehicles and construction materials. A Department of Buildings inspector visited four R4-zoned residential lots located on 78th Street between Dumont and South Conduit Avenues in Lindenwood, Queens. The inspector, during three visits, observed stored on the site a large excavator and two commercial trucks, and construction tools and equipment, including a drilling machine, a generator, and large quantities of lumber and pipes. Subsequently, Buildings sought an order to seal the premises under the padlock law to halt an alleged public nuisance.

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