Saturday, January 19, 2013
Walled in by apartment building in the Bronx
From CBS New York:
A Bronx family is up in arms over a four-story apartment building that is going up inches from their 1920s one-story brick cape on Bruckner Boulevard.
Patty Justiniano told 1010 WINS that the owner of the neighboring lots knocked on her door a year ago to explain his plan to build.
“He informed me he was building a lovely home for him and his mother and I was like, ‘Yeah right,’” Justiniano said.
“How do I replace that siding? How do I repair that siding? How do I clean my gutters?” Justiniano asked.
The new apartment building also blocks 10 windows on the side of her house.
“What do you do with them now? You don’t open them up because you’re looking at grey cinder blocks,” Justiniano said.
The Department of Buildings said the construction is within legal limits.
Justiniano admits that her home has a one-foot property line, but said the developer had two lots and could’ve moved at least a couple of feet away.
The city said the family can file a zoning challenge.
I'm surprised the City Council hasn't revised the buildings code to eliminate this type of thing. Oh, wait, that would hurt the bottom line of the developers to whom they are slaves.
12 comments:
Huang did the same thing in Elmhurst. The owner of one particular house, a retired nun, could not afford to fight him. Unfortunately, she is just one of many of Tommy and Henry Huang's victims.
Besides living with the situation in the future, her property value was severely impacted.
There should be legal recourse. There is absolutely no reason why these unsrupulous individuals should be able to hurt their neighbors so needlessly.
so its ok for this families home to be built to the edge of the property line, but once the neighbor does it it becomes a problem? this happened a few years back in bay ridge. same thing. my house can be built right to the edge but once someone else does it they are greedy. its nyc people. get over it.
This family's house was built in the 1920s when the lot was probably triple the size it is now and people didn't build houses on top of other houses. Allowing the subdivision of lots is what caused it to end up on the lot line.
Get it?
subdividing also leads to overdevelopment.
Therer is a loophole here. The people in the DOF don't know anything about zoning resolution. They will divide or merge any property as long as a survey is provided and the property tax is paid off.
I don't understand the comment about the dimensions of the lot. Was the older house built one foot from the property line in the 1920's without an easement? If that's the case, wasn't it only a matter of time before the adjacent lot was built likewise one foot (or less) to the property line? Would this 2013 construction have been illegal in 1923?
No, the lot was likely larger on both sides. It may have been 60' and subdivided on both sides. Or 40 feet and subdivided on one side. Here's what was there before: 3525 Bruckner Blvd
Yes, the 2013 construction would have been illegal in 1923. Windows on the lot line were not illegal back then and actually were encouraged since there was no air conditioning back then. There were changes made in the 1960s to the building code because of lobbying by the building industry who convin$ed the city that the ability to fireproof with modern firewalls should allow them to build on the lot line. Back in 1923 you wouldn't have wanted a frame house built right up to another because the whole block would burn down in a fire.
In any event this is a cruel thing to do to a homeowner. Just because you can legally do something doesn't mean you morally should. Of course we're talking about developers here, so 'what morals?'
Like he couldn't have made the same amount of money had he left 6' of space between the houses...
Q.C and WPIX should hi-light the one family house on the same block as the Capitol One drive thru, one block East of Bell Blvd./Northern Blvd. approx. 214 Pl.,Bayside.
two new six story buildings have sandwiched this private home of an elderly couple. very sad.....they should have sold. Now the property value is crappy.
After seeing what was there (thanks for the link, Crappy) What has happened here really is criminal. Those poor homeowners.
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