City Council Proposes ''Blasting'' Law

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New Bills: Paralyzing Peeping and Blasting Explosive Regulations

by Courtney Gross
September 4, 2007

There is no doubt the City Council is gearing up to say goodbye to summer and hello to its more hectic legislative schedule. To do that, members have recently introduced bills to regulate everything from Peeping Toms to construction companies.

While some of the bills claim to improve safety in the city, advocacy groups have criticized a number of the measures, calling some overreaching or utterly unenforceable. One organization described a piece of legislation as a threat to civil liberties.

Over the next several months, these bills may or may not come up for hearings. So here is a little preview of what could be in store at City Hall.

Regulation of Blasting

In mid-July, a retaining wall collapsed on the Upper West Side, forcing residents out of their homes. Although the cause of the wall's collapse has not yet been determined, some city officials and residents attribute it to blasting at an adjacent construction site on Columbus Avenue.

In response, the district's councilmember, Melissa Mark Viverito, proposed (Intro 613) legislation that would strengthen the city's blasting regulations, specifically reducing a blasting permit's validity from three years to three months. The applicant would, however, have an opportunity to request a one-year extension.

The legislation would also require a trained representative from the fire department or Department of Buildings to be on site during demolitions involving blasting and excavations on privately owned property.

" At a time when development appears to overrun our neighborhoods and inconvenience our lives, it is our responsibility as legislators to ensure that development is as responsible, safe and accountable as possible," said Viverito following the legislation's introduction.

The legislation also proposes to increase community notification in the area where blasting is occurring and coordinate communication between the departments that oversee this type of construction, such as the Department of Buildings and the fire department.

Although the fire department is charged with issuing an explosives permit, under the new legislation it must coordinate with the Department of Buildings and the Department of Environmental Protection, including noticing them on permit requests.

A spokesperson for the Department of Buildings said it is currently reviewing the legislation and "looks forward" to working with the council.

So far the bill has 13 sponsors, including Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who held a press conference announcing the measure. Quinn's support essentially guarantees the bill's approval.

Zoning Changes in Comm.Bd.7 do NOT affect PWV

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E-Mail Received from Brian Cook, September 28, 2007

I thought I'd start with the shorter answer. The demapping for Con Ed is not 'revocable'. However, Con Ed would like to sell its properties to a developer to make some new money. The problem for Con Ed and the developer is that the zoning for the site only allows for manufacturing usage and a low building density.

The new developer wishes to build residential and therefore, the developer has to go through ULURP. This has given the community the ability to negotiate for things. The community board is currently attempting to get the streets remapped. However, at this point, it does not look like they will be successful in that regard. They will however get the 'pathways' that mimic the streets. These pathways would line up with the streets and go throughout the site, however, they would not be actual mapped steets. I say all this with only one disclaimer: I am not the project manager for reviewing this proposal; so I am not 100% sure whether the community will end up successful.

You are correct that CB7's new zoning is irrelevant to the Gluck-Chetrit development at Park West Village. While the community board recommended that Park West Village be included in the rezoning, city planning would not do it. A few of the reasons as I understood them to be were:

1. The Tenants Association was looking for a "Special Planned Preservation District," and while our office was supportive, DCP did not want to do it.

2. The development's foundation would likely be in the ground prior to the full ULURP (which appears to have happened)

3. A 'contextual zoning' would have required a 'street wall' along the entire street (cutting away even the two small pedestrian pathways)

4. The development wouldn't really be 'contextual' to the block. (Contextual zoning like brownstones don't really fit in with PWV's tower design as something that is 'contextual')

5. A downzoning would have been difficult since the zoning on PWV is already at one of the lowest densities in Manhattan.



Brian Cook
Senior Planner
Land Use Planning & Development Unit
Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer
Municipal Building, One Centre Street, 19th Floor
New York, NY 10007
Office: 212- 669-2224
Fax: 212- 669 7862
Bcook@manhattanbp.org

Columbia Spectator Report on Comm. Bd. 7 & the Dig

Construction of Whole Foods Irks CB7

By Sara Vogel

PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 7, 2007, Columbia Spectator

Construction at Columbus Avenue between 97th and 100th Streets continues to rattle windows and ruffle its neighbors’ feathers this week after city inspectors lifted an order that stopped some of the work in late July when a retaining wall at the site collapsed.

The site of the future Columbus Village commercial strip and residential complex, which is slated to include a Whole Foods Market, was deemed safe by the Department of Buildings on Sept. 3—a little over a month after the collapse forced the evacuation of the building next door on 97th Street.

The developers, Lawrence Gluck and Joseph Chetrit, came together with the Community Board for the first time to apologize for the collapse and to listen to community concerns this August.

But area residents still fear that the site is unsafe, according to Sheldon Fine, the chair of Community Board 7. CB7 is investigating the cause of the collapse with the borough president’s office, and the city council introduced a bill to limit the use of explosives and blasting at construction sites.

Nearby residents are also coping with day-to-day frustrations of living next to a huge hole in the ground. “Lives have been under siege for months,” Fine said, as drilling, digging, and excavation for the 320,000 square feet of retail space and residential towers can be heard and felt down Columbus Avenue for three continuous blocks.

Many are also upset that the development will change the architectural character of the neighborhood. “It will stick out like a sore thumb,” said long-time Park West Village resident Maria Watson, about the 29-story tower proposed for the west side of Columbus Avenue.

The developers of Columbus Village had to wait 40 years to make big changes at the site, as a Federal slum-clearance program from the 1950s locked the configuration of the buildings in what is now known as Park West Village. The clause of the program expired, and storefronts along Columbus Avenue were razed last summer.

This June, Whole Foods catered a public meeting at an elementary school cafeteria in an attempt to extend an olive branch to Upper West Side residents who were already voicing concerns about the store’s location in the neighborhood.

They looked to reassure attendees that the company is socially and environmentally responsible—even if the developer it was working with had not met with neighborhood residents at this point in the conversation. As the crowd munched on fresh fruit, wraps, cookies, and asparagus hors d’oeuvres, spokespeople noted the starting wage for any job at Whole Foods is $10 per hour, 85 percent of workers are full-time, all workers receive health benefits, and they use wind credit power.

“Are we perfect? No. Because we’re human,” said Otto Leuschel, the regional vice-president of operations, at the meeting Whole Foods presenters were interrupted by people who began shouting to begin the public comment portion of the night.

Many were concerned that the store’s loading dock would be right next to an elementary school on 97th Street, and that delivery trucks would add to traffic on the block which already gets congested with cars spilling out of Central Park from the East Side. The suggestion was put forward that the store locate at 100th Street, a wider block with less traffic, and that it could hold sway with the developer to make this kind of demand.

Leuschel said that Whole Foods could work on scheduling deliveries to minimize risk to students. However, as to convincing the developer they should set up shop at 100th Street or relocate the loading dock, he said, “We do have power, I don’t know if it is the power you believe we have.”

Sara Vogel can be reached at Sara.Vogel@columbiaspectator.com.

West Side Spirit on the Aftermath of the Wall Collapse

Click here for the West Side Spirit article, "Remedial Work Resumes" (written before the "stop work order" was completely rescinded).

''Stop Work Order'' Lifted

The Department of Buildings has lifted the "stop work" order imposed when the retaining wall collapsed. However, according to the office of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, investigations proceed on the cause of the collaps