City regulators shut down a Marine Park development site after the builders flagrantly ignored city-approved construction blueprints — and put workers’ lives at risk in the process, according to a Department of Buildings spokeswoman.
“We issued a stop work order for the site…and issued violations to the contractor for disregarding the approved plans and putting workers in jeopardy by skirting safety regulations,” said Abigail Kunitz.
Neighbors filed 11 official complaints to the department since June 2018, claiming that the project at the intersection of Avenue T and Hendrickson Street was not conforming to the permitted plans by exceeding height limits and creating an unapproved elevator shaft, among other violations.
The department eventually conducted an inspection on the site on Feb. 5 and found the outlaw elevator shaft — including a bulkhead that rises well above the two-story building — as well as missing guardrails and netting meant to protect construction workers, according to Kunitz.
On an otherwise sleepy street stocked with one-family homes, the sizable height of the rising building alarmed neighbors, who claimed the structure did not match the plans posted outside of the site.
“It is two completely different structures than were presented to people on my block,” said David Fitzgerald. “It now has a massive steel frame with a four-story tall elevator shaft. We don’t even know what this building is.”
The building also entirely eclipses its next-door neighbor, blocking all the sunlight to the adjoining backyard, according to Fitzgerald
“The whole building blocks out all the light from that man’s backyard,” he said. “It may not bother everybody, but the ones that think like me — that’s just not right.”
6 comments:
Glad it alarmed the neighbors.
Um, what about the elected officials, community boards and local civics?
Owners?
...And yet, everybody else on that block will look to get the kind of money that previous owner get for their old dump.
You are up against raw, working-class greed.
I agree with your sentiments here, but you are fighting your neighbor's secret dreams of riches.
Rob in Manhattan
Can the DOB be any slower to respond?? The complaints started in June 2018 and they finally got around to inspecting the site this February 5???
I agree with your sentiments here, but you are fighting your neighbor's secret dreams of riches. You are up against raw, working-class greed.
So much for this vaunted 'Astoria Pride' - all they value is the dirt under their feet and what $ they can harvest out of it. A real class act.
Goes a long way towards explaining the frustration with a good part of the city where they actually have some pride and respect for themselves and their communities.
When you got a chunk of the voters that feel this way, and do nothing when their districts are represented by a strong pro-development voting block that overrides those other communities with some sense, there IS very little you can do ... until these people are called out and publicly shamed.
That will get to them and knock some sense into them.
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