Court fight promised over new building rules

From The Wonkster:

New rules at the Department of Buildings will go into effect Monday that require all zoning diagrams for approved buildings be put online.

But as part of that rule, the public will be limited to comment on those approvals for only 45 days. Public comment is now unlimited.

What the buildings department says is streamlining the development process and will encourage public comment, advocates and elected officials charge that the public’s voice is being silenced.

At a rally this afternoon, mayoral candidate Tony Avella, comptroller candidate John Liu and public advocate candidate Norman Siegel, as well as the Queens Civic Congress and the Historic Districts Council, blasted the administration for the rule change. They urged the department to rescind its plan or to prepare for an arduous court battle.

...advocates say the new rule is obstructionist and could, Siegel hypothesizes, lead to more structurally unsound buildings. They argue a community should be able to raise an unlimited amount of complaints regarding a neighborhood development. The community, they say, are the watchdogs and limiting their comment period is putting developers first.