Friday, January 12, 2007

Revisiting "The House Too Narrow"

Remember the post, "Narrowminded?" It was one of the more popular submissions to Queens Crap, as it spotlighted a rather egregious building offense. Well, there's a lot more to the story.

Photo at left shows the extremely narrow driveway, which is less than the required 8 feet wide. No normal car could fit in there. "Motorcycles only"?

Next we have a photo showing the poorly built curb cut. It is much wider it is than it's legally allowed to be. It's obvious that the concrete pad in front of the front door is intended to be used for parking, and the wider-than-legally-allowed curb cut makes it easy for the Escalade or livery car to be pulled in.

The space between the driveways is too small, eliminating any street parking between the driveways.

The third photo shows the three homes that were built in place of the one.





Photos four and five show the original house after the demo crew was caught demolishing the house without permits and with the electricity and gas still live in the house. Notice there was no fence.

From this week's Times Ledger:

City revokes 88th Rd. home permits
By Howard Koplowitz

Permits have been revoked from two fully constructed Bellerose homes for failing to comply with the neighborhood's zoning regulations, a city Department of Buildings spokeswoman confirmed.

The houses at 249-23 and 249-27 88th Rd. had drawn the anger of community residents, civic leaders and state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose), who sent a letter to the Buildings Department calling for the structures' permits to be revoked and the homes demolished.

Kate Lindquist, the Buildings spokeswoman, said the homes cannot be sold as is and the developer will need to resubmit plans to the agency.

Among the violations, the houses were cited for being less than eight feet apart and having curb cuts that were too large, which eliminated two parking spaces on the block.

The gas pipes also were unobstructed, rusted and the cellar windows were level with the ground.

Community Board 13 Chairman Richard Hellenbrecht called the revocation of the permits "a very good step," but cautioned that he would not be satisfied until the amended plans are approved.

Padavan said the Buildings Department has yet to respond to his letter, but he heard from Hellenbrecht and Queens Colony Civic Association President Angela Augugliaro that the permits on the two homes were withdrawn.

The senator was skeptical that amended plans could be drawn up without knocking down at least one of the houses.

"I don't see how they could do it," he said.

Augugliaro said the homes "look disgusting" and wishes they are torn down.

"I don't want three houses on that lot," she said. "Three houses don't belong on that lot."

The owner of the structures, Jamaica-based Javid Homes Corp., also owns an adjacent building at 249-21 88th Rd. Construction will be allowed to continue at that house, Lindquist said.

Mike Soroush of Javid Homes Corp. said he built the two homes legally and claimed that the zoning regulations may have changed after he built the structures.

"When I built these houses, I had the right zoning," Soroush said.

He said if the neighborhood, civic leaders and Padavan were upset with what he constructed, "they can pay for these buildings and knock (them) down and make it a park."

Hellenbrecht said Buildings should not have waited to hear complaints from residents and for Padavan to look at the homes' plans.

"It's the Buildings Department's job to find these things on their own," he said, noting that the community has been complaining about the houses "since the day the spade went into the ground."

11 comments:

verdi said...

Demolishing a house without a permit is certainly illegal. Doing it before disconnecting the electrical service lines and shutting down the gas main connections is criminal! This ought to at least "spark" a thought at DOB about public safety (that is, if the remaing block doesn't go up in the flames first)! Hey maybe this is a new form of overdevelopment, "Demolition- and -Urban- Renewal- By-Natural-Gas-Explosion"!!!! Got any "natural gas" to contribute this morning Mayor Bloomberg?

Anonymous said...

The more curb cuts for driveways that a builder can cram into each block eliminates the need for planting curb trees. Don't we all benefit from that?

Anonymous said...

I keep telling you, Queens is not a destination, but merely a way station for someplace else.

The more transient the population, they less they vote, the less they are committed, and most importantly (and the real reason for all this) the more they let the machine alone!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Tell our dumb Beep Marshal (if you can find a brain in there somewhere) not to waste our tax-money to encourage "tourism" in Queens. It's strictly a bedroom borough or a point of departure to a better life! We could, of course, sponsor "Queens Crap" bus tours. Wanna give us some grant money. What else do we have to offer with the current rate of "tear-downs"! Brooklyn used to be called "The Borough of Churches". Queens is on the way to becoming the borough of "Butt- Ugly- Housing"! B.P. Marshal is, after all, just a "token" for the Queens building industry!

Anonymous said...

These houses need to go! This has been nothing but trouble for us living on the same block, since Day One! The original owner let us all down by selling 'out' to a developer. The current owner has done everything illegally since the beginning. They even had the nerve to remove our fence and dig into our property upseting the foundation of our house!! To this day or fence has not been replaced by them!!

mike said...

all three houses were completed by mike soroush under supervision of dob inspectors and passed all inspection and certificate of occupancy(c.of.o0 WAS ISSUED BY D.O.B

Rick said...

Hey Mike,

Ya real proud of that work, are ya?

Those are three of the sorriest excuses for "homes" we've seen in a long time in this area. Even the homes that were originally built during the Depression in this area were constructed better than the crap you put up.

By the way, it looks like you owe the city a few grand for the violations you racked up for those monstrosities. How about payin' up?

Anonymous said...

As I drove by today, I noticed those three homes gone! A nicer one family structure is in its place; the way it should've been. Go Bellerose!

Unknown said...

I have no idea where the above 'anonymous' poster drove by but these houses are still there. Last month the tiny house (which had at last 3 or 4 families living there) caused the death of their dog. Today we came home to find a notice from the Marshall--the families have been evicted. And as Rick said, there is still over $2,000 worth of violations due to the City!

Anonymous said...

What's happened with these homes since the last posting on here? And what does Unknown mean when stated The house caused the dogs death?

Anonymous said...

UPDATE: The latest Tenants were also evicted from 249-27 88th Road. The house is now in Foreclosure. I wish they'd just demolish it already. It's structurally unsound and an eyesore.