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 … <Read More>
Search Results for: Buildings
Indicted lab keeps license
Buildings’ suspension of license pending criminal trial overturned by OATH. On October 29, 2008, Testwell Laboratories, a licensed concrete testing laboratory, and V. Reddy Kancharla, a licensed site safety manager, were indicted on charges of enterprise corruption, grand larceny, scheme to defraud, offering a false instrument for filing, and falsifying business records. The next day, the Department of Buildings imposed pre-hearing suspensions on both, claiming that their conduct created imminent jeopardy to the public … <Read More>
Facade NOV dismissed
- 246 East 46th Street. Photo:Melanie Cash.
Building owner inspected facade after allotted time. Beginning in 1980, owners of buildings taller than six stories were required to conduct a critical examination of their buildings’ facade every five years. Each five-year cycle required submission of a technical report following examination. In February 1999, the Department of Buildings accepted the last of the fourth round technical reports. Building owner J.T. Tai Co., Inc. conducted a facade examination in … <Read More>
Plaza violation upheld
Four-foot tall iron fence blocked access to public plaza. After the Dept. of City Planning received complaints about an obstruction to a public plaza, a Buildings inspector was sent to the site at 733 Park Avenue in Manhattan. The inspector observed a four-foot tall iron fence surrounding the entire plaza and separating the public sidewalk from the garden area and the plaza’s walkways. The inspector issued a violation to the owner, charging it with failing … <Read More>
Architect fined $750
Former DOB plan examiner contacted DOB on behalf of employer about a problem with its e-filing system. John Tsarsis had been employed by the Department of Buildings as a plan examiner for six years. In 2007, Tsarsis worked for a short period with Ismael Leyva Architects, but then began working as a senior projects and code and zoning manager for Milrose Consultants. Less than a year after leaving Buildings, Tsarsis contacted the Department on behalf … <Read More>