South Park Slope Community Group

Despite unyielding community and elected officials’ opposition through three months of Board of Standards and Appeals hearings, this morning, Tuesday June 20, 2006, the BSA voted unanimously to grant the financial hardship appeals of two South Slope/Greenwood Hts. properties, 400 15th St. and 639 Sixth Ave.

The Board also unanimously rejected both properties’ BZY (foundation substantially complete) applications.

The developer/owners of the properites, Gennady Borokhovich, managing member of 400 15th St. LLC and David Angel, managing member of The Angel Group LLC, are now able to continue building under the properties’ previous R6 zoning, which was changed to R6B on November 16, 2005.

“Hardship” costs included fees for DOB and ECB violations served, repair of adjacent properties damaged, legal fees accrued while fighting neighbors in court, legal fees for the appeal to the BSA, overpaying for the property and other bad business decisions such as hiring irresponsible contractors, “remobilization costs” due to restart of the project after several month’s dormancy, etc.

This unfortunate ruling reinforces the urban legend that the BSA is biased towards developers. We had hoped otherwise.

Originally scheduled as a decision on the vesting of 182 15th St., June 13′s hearing was instead re-opened by the Board of Standards and Appeals to allow developer attorneys Howard Hornstein and Peter Geis of Cozen O’Connor to rebut new evidence submitted by community attorney Caroline Harris of Troutman Sanders. A 20-minute “highlights” form of this evidence, a video showing illegal mechanical demolition as well as other illegal and/or unsafe demolition practices conducted on the site in late August and early September, was shown at the hearing.

A large part of the decision on this case hinges on how many hours of illegal mechanical demolition work were done, if and how those determined hours should be applied as a “penalty” against hours of work completed legally, and whether an unfair time advantage was achieved by doing mechanical instead of hand demolition.

Ultimately, the Board must determine how to relate unlawful work in the past to current vesting.

The DOB has requested, in a letter to the Board dated June 12, 2006, “that the illegal mechanical demolition shown in the submitted video footage also be excluded from the construction under consideration for vesting purposes regardless of whether the Department was able to issue violations for this illegal work.” The DOB had previously requested that the Board exclude for vesting purposes the illegal work that resulted in four violations.

Mr. Hornstein stated that Cozen O’Connor would give expert testimony in written submission to the Board in response to the video rather than giving testimony at the hearing. However, his comment that “The Buildings Dept. has never taken the stance that illegal work should be punished” shows that, as with 614 7th Avenue, Hornstein and Geis are taking the position that there has been a change in policy at the DOB and their clients are intentional victims of it.

Ms. Harris countered that all illegal work should be discounted in calculating “substantial progress” on this site.

A July 25 decision date has been scheduled.

The Board of Standards and Appeals will hold a continued hearing tomorrow, Tuesday, June 13 at 10am, on the proposed 11-story Isaac Katan project at 182 15th St.

New neighborhood videos submitted as evidence to the BSA show work in progress and site conditions contrary to developer’s attorneys’ claims and statements to BSA. Videos taken by three different residents show careless, unsafe demolition procedures, including untrained workers without proper protection or supervision working in close proximity to mechanical demolition operations.

A large excavator is shown demolishing the original buildings for a period of time exceeding 20 days without permits to use mechanical equipment for demolition purposes. Attorneys Howard Hornstein and Peter Geis of Cozen O’Connor representing developer Isaac Katan have stated that the equipment was not utilized for more than two hours.

As stated at the BSA by local residents, the demolition process created huge uncontrolled dust clouds that blanketed the surrounding area at the time that there was an asbestos abatement program in process. Asbestos containing material was likely being dispersed throughout the neighborhood. Workers with no protective equipment were also exposed to this dust.

The developer’s attorneys have downplayed these actions or have asked the BSA to ignore them all together even though there have been prior violations given for both use of mechanical equipment without a permit and illegal asbestos abatement from the DOB and DEP.

Please join us at the BSA tomorrow to let the Board know a developer’s bad behavior should not be rewarded with vesting! Public testimony of three minutes is allowed. Please bring six copies of your testimony to give to the Board. You must bring photo ID to enter the building. The BSA is located at 40 Rector Street, 6th fl., in New York City.

THIS Sunday Evening!
June 11th from 5 to 9pm

Let’s have some fun, share some GREAT food and GREAT
company!

If you are interested in attending please contact us for detailed information.

Let’s start the summer with some GOOD LUCK. We’re going to
need a little at the 182 15th St. BSA hearing on the
13th! (Please calendar this event also–it is VERY
IMPORTANT to come out for this hearing if at all possible!)

In a surprise setback to what was scheduled to be a decision on the vesting of 614 7th Ave., the Board of Standards and Appeals yesterday re-opened the case so the developer’s attorney could rebut a May 9, 2006 letter to the Board by the Dept. of Buildings. In that letter (see article below), the DOB stated that “due to the serious nature of the objections and the substantial defects in the plans submitted,” the permit issued on August 31, 2005 was not valid and was properly revoked on November 3, 2005.

Applicant attorney Peter Geis of Cozen O’Connor stunned the room with a new revelation that the professionally certified architectural plans by Robert Scarano audited by the DOB in October (resulting in permit revocation on November 3) were the “wrong set of plans.”

Neither the Board nor the DOB representative had heard previous mention of a wrong set of plans.

Geis argued that if the list of audit objections were not based on an approved set of plans, then the DOB committed a grievous error in revoking the original permit (never mind that the second reinstated permit was revoked when the revised plans were also found to have serious violations).

There was no explanation given as to why the DOB did not have an approved set of plans.

The DOB’s response submission, to be turned in next week, will address that issue, as well as DOB’s revocation of one or both permits as a result of the audit. According to the Chair, the DOB’s submission will provide the basis for decision on this property. A July 18 decision date has been scheduled.

Next Tuesday, June 6, is D-Day for both WWII and for a final decision on whether 614 7th Ave. (“the Minerva Building”) will be granted vestment under our old zoning by the Board of Standards and Appeals. No further attorney presentations or public comment will be heard (unless the case is re-opened), just a yes or no vote from the four commissioners.

The BSA will also conduct a continued hearing (#2) on 422 Prospect Ave., as well as give a decision on the 2003 “A” application on 1638 Eighth Ave. (this is NOT a continued hearing on this property–that is scheduled for June 20–but just a decision on an earlier application).

If you wish to give testimony on 422 Prospect, please attend this hearing as it is the last chance you will have to say anything about the vesting of this property. (You will have three minutes to speak; please bring six copies of your testimony if you wish to turn it in to the Board.)

Tuesday, June 6, 10:00am.
BSA Decision on 614 7th Ave. / Continued Hearing on 422 Prospect Ave.
40 Rector Street, 6th Floor, 6E-Conference Room, NY