I want to add a curb cut to my side lot. Read the regulations, and it looks like aside from the survey you can do the plans and permit yourself.

My architect wants $3k, which seems too high by a factor of five or six, considering it doesn’t include the survey or actual work.

Is drawing the ‘plan’ for DOB here really as simple as marking up a survey with where the cut is going to go?

Or should I try to negotiate with or find another architect?


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. Yes, you need to have a legal parking space to get a curb cut permit. The space has to be a minimum of 8.5 feet x 18.5 feet deep and be fully enclosed within the property lines.

    I forgot one more requirement: there has to be at least seven feet of clearance between the curb cut and any tree or street sign.

  2. It’s getting harder and harder to get a curb cut permit. For one thing, the minimum clearances for things like street lights, fire hydrants, utility boxes and adjacent driveways probably disqualifies a third of the homes on a given block.

    414-2010, which is in the City Council Commerce Committee now, will require all curb cut applications to be run through the local community board for a 60 day review.

    The overhead of winning a curb cut permit and the city’s apathy in enforcing the laws in place now is why there are so many illegal curb cuts — as many as 90% of all curb cuts in Brooklyn according to a sampling that Howard Golden did in the 90s.

    414 adds more teeth to the curb cut law by requiring the city to complete an audit of curb cuts in all five boroughs. Owners of illegal cuts will be fined ($2500, I think) and accrue an additional fine of $10/day until the owner removes and repairs the curb. After six months, the city will repair it and attach a lien to the property.

  3. The c. of o. issue had been out for a while but dob unofficially rescinded this procedure for the past couple of months so sometimes you can get away with out a new c.o..

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