Permit to Install Skylights
We’re considering putting skylights on the top floor of our brownstone in Brooklyn Heights at the same time we have our roof replaced. Does anyone know if this requires DOB approval? If so, what is required? Does anyone have a reference to a website / form I can use to file the application? Thanks!
We’re considering putting skylights on the top floor of our brownstone in Brooklyn Heights at the same time we have our roof replaced.
Does anyone know if this requires DOB approval?
If so, what is required?
Does anyone have a reference to a website / form I can use to file the application?
Thanks!
Im a roofing contractor and you dont need a permit to install skylights… Matthews Construction Group and you can reach me at msela1@verizon.net. I would be happy to give you a free estimate
Thanks
Great info m926bk and NorthHeights (et.al.). I guess this is the price one pays for living in a landmarked area. I’m tempted to just scrap the project altogether.
“The worst is when LPC wants evidence that DOB will approve your project…except that DOB won’t look at it until LPC approves.”
Joseph Heller would have loved that one!
“LPC site seemed to indicate replacing or repairing skylights does NOT require LPC approval.”
This is literally true, which is why Brooklynexpediter said you’ll get a Certificate of No Effect from LPC. But you have to read his (her?) full post to get an idea of how the bureaucracies work.
If you file a job with DOB and you are located in a Landmark district, DOB will not fully proceed with your application until they receive an appropriate sign-off from LPC. So then you trot over to LPC and obtain either your Certificate of No Effect (which theoretically should take 1-2 weeks for skylights) or a Certificate of Appropriateness (which can take a long time and require staff review, hearings, etc). Then you go back to DOB and they finish looking at your application.
The worst is when LPC wants evidence that DOB will approve your project…except that DOB won’t look at it until LPC approves.
Even the LPC is limited in what it can do against neglectful owners, although they are increasing their agrressiveness towards these demolition-by-neglect types. They are actively said to to be working on two houses here in PLG – I just hope they can save them in time!
The LPC is another city agency, not a division of the DOB. Replacing your flat roof (I assume it’s flat) doesn’t require LPC approval, but your new skylight does. If it isn’t visible from the street, you’ll get a Certificate of No Effect. I hear they are extremely back-logged at the moment; not sure why.
@ Stargazer: I don’t think the building at 7th Ave and 2nd Ave in Park Slope is in a landmark district, so LPC can’t do a darn thing. The DOB, I guess, can only require that they protect the sidewalk from falling bits of building. It is a shame though.
If DOB and landmarks are so damn fussy about everything on Brownstones, why on Earth is that abandoned building still empty on 7th ave and 2nd street.
It must have fines and violations up the kazoo by now, yet nothing is ever done. Makes no sense.
Here we have people that take care of their homes yet have to get approval to install a skylight, yet this other building sits there day after day to rot….
that is an eye sore to the neighborhood, not some skylight on a roof.
Having just submitted plans to LPC for the crackhouse renovation we are working on, I would concur on at least 30 days to get any response. It took over 30 days for their initial response to our filing (don’t have to go to hearing!). They appear to be extremely backlogged. It is unclear if it is a seasonal issue, a staffing issue, or both.
LOL, thanks denton. I don’t think this will be done by end of August as I had initially hoped.
“Why do you think LPC is part of DOB? I don’t think it is…”
That’s what the person at the DOB said when she gave me the number to LPC.
“Doesnt take 30 days. If they require a hearing then maybe otherwise its much faster than that. ”
brooklynexpediter, that’s what the woman at the LPC told me. I think she may have said 20-30 business days. Maybe in your experience it has been faster, I’m just telling you what they said.
Thanks Parklife. LPC site seemed to indicate replacing or repairing skylights does NOT require LPC approval. Anyway, so what application do I submit for DOB approval? I have the LPC form already.