Sidewalk construction permit
I received a sidewalk violation notice which requires me to replace sidewalk adjacent to my property. Does anyone know if I need to register with the DOT to apply for a sidewalk construction permit? The sidewalk permit application clearly says the permit won’t be given out without a Permittee ID which requires you to register with the DOT, but according to streetworksmanual.nyc you don’t need to register with the DOT if you intend to repair a sidewalk yourself without a contractor which is what I want to do. There’s conflicting information here. Can anyone clear this up? Do I need to register with the DOT to get a sidewalk construction permit if I want to perform the work myself?
msmiwo82
in Exteriors 3 years ago
17
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17 replies
andriywww1990 | 3 years ago
so with the concrete. when we all got violations, i saw the inspector going around. not near my house or i would have asked for the justification of the violation. but he was stopped taking a break in one of those 3 wheeled cushman scooter like the parking agents use. he told me, if there is a discrepancy in height between flags greater than the thickness of one finger, it is a violation. we ended up getting a ticket for some cracks in flags. some were very tight cracks, but they said the entire walk had to be done. this was in concrete. i do not know what they look for in bluestone but heaved flags would be a guess.
Arkady | 3 years ago
It depends too on whether you have bluestone. But from the get-go, unless you agree that it’s in disrepair, I’d ask for a 2nd inspection – the evaluation is frequently changed.
andriywww1990 | 3 years ago
if what gtinsouthslope is talking about ever happens to someone, blankets would help. it was not the snow that did the damage but the freezing temperature. the top layer of the concrete froze overnight. years ago, they would put hay on the concrete when they got an unexpected frost (i know someone this happen to and they used hay). i would have tried drop cloths if i saw something like this coming, two or three layered might do it (because of the dense tight weave on drop cloths, they would have limiting insulation value). or a thick moving blanket. and yes, it should be the contractor laying the blankets, not the homeowner.
gtinsouthslope | 3 years ago
The City issued violations to several house on our block about 5 years ago and we all had the City contractors do the work. Unfortunately there was a snowstorm the evening they had replaced the Sidewalks and a few months after being replaced the sidewalks started to flake and deteriorate. A neighbor organized a petition asking the City to redo the sidewalks whichwas submitted to DOT and then after 1.5 years a contractor showed up without any warning and resurfaced the sidewalks making them look brand new. It’s been almost 2 years since the resurfacing and the sidewalk still looks good.
shahnandersen
in Exteriors 3 years ago
In non-landmark districts the City will only replace bluestone with concrete (that is why we had to hire out to fix our bluestone sidewalk). But you are required to replace your sidewalk in kind in a landmark district. Call the Landmarks Commission and ask how this is handled if you don’t get an answer from someone here who knows.
Archiefina | 3 years ago
We received a violation a few years ago, appealed it (because there is no discernable problem), and they rejected the appeal. We are in a landmarks district and our sidewalk consists of slate slabs. Some huge, some small. If the city comes, does anyone know if they will replace the slabs with concrete? We of course want to avoid that, and have just been sitting on the appeal deciding whether to hire somebody to do it thoughtfully.
andriywww1990 | 3 years ago
call the community board and tell them you are debating whether to let the city do the repair and ask when they plan on having sidewalks done in your area. maybe never if you are the only one with a violation. our community board waited until a whole bunch of us had violations here and then they did all of them at once. every third house had a new sidewalk here when they got done.
I was told by a neighbor who knew the people on the community board that it was up to them. that neighbor is (sadly) now gone or i would be out there asking more to tell all of you here.
RobertGMarvin
in Exteriors 3 years ago
AFAIK the City ONLY handles the repair if they’ve issued a violation.
Guest User | 3 years ago
Seems like a decent price, even for 10 years ago. I think ours was replaced about 10-12 years ago and I’m pretty sure we paid more per sf and got not great quality. 4 years is a long time to be waiting though. I wonder if it’s shorter if they’ve given you a violation.
JohnHancock | 3 years ago
Problem is, you wait forever and have no control over the timeline. I’ve been waiting for at least 4 years now….
stevecym | 3 years ago
Ok, 10 or maybe more years ago i think they charged 10.25 a sq foot. Whatever it was. It was competitive with what the contractors charged and they used a good company.
Guest User | 3 years ago
Does anyone know approximately how much the city charges to replace a sidewalk? I’d love to know for future reference.
housepoor | 3 years ago
If it is a 3 family (I might be wrong about the number of units – but that is close) or below, you can take out the permit yourself (and must do the work yourself). Otherwise you will need a licensed, insured contractor to get the DOT permit.
RobertGMarvin
in Exteriors 3 years ago
When most homeowners on my block got sidewalk violations about 25 years ago we realized that it was easier and less expensive to let the City arrange for the new sidewalks. On top of that, IIRC, it took them a couple of years to actually bill us.
andriywww1990 | 3 years ago
we went through this and i looked into pulling the permit and was going to ask a family member help me. the more i looked at it and the more i compared the costs and considered the headaches, i realized it was better to do what bob marvin says: let the city do it. we let them do it and could not have been happier.
RobertGMarvin
in Exteriors 3 years ago
Personally, I would let the City have the repair done.
stevecym | 3 years ago
I heard if you do this yourself and do not pay anyone, you can pull it.
All that other stuff, applying for an id. We had to close a sidewalk years back and all that other stuff is so the dot can track businesses and be sure they carry liability insurance. You dont need any of that as a homeowner.