Gas repair help/advice for Bed-Stuy brownstone!

The situation: in November, my tenants (they’re in the garden apartment, we’re upstairs) smelled gas and called National Grid; they came out and found a tiny leak in one of the basement lines – not a big deal, they said, but they also locked the meter until I resolved the issue. I then discovered that this minor leak (which my plumber said would take about half an hour to fix, and cost about 400 bucks) will also require permits to be pulled, and DOB inspection – due to new gas work regulations. The total for repairing the line plus getting it all permitted, according to the plumbers, will be about $3500 – and of course I’m terrified about DOB going into my basement and issuing citations for random things (I closed on our house in April, and had it thoroughly inspected beforehand, but it’s an old brownstone, and god knows what we could be cited for if an inspector is feeling cranky). Luckily, the locked gas line ONLY powers our gas stove on the parlor floor – the boiler, furnace, dryer, and tenant’s stove are all on the other line, which is still up and running.

Th e question: do I go through this nightmare and expense just to have our stove’s gas line unlocked? Our HVAC guy had a look when he was servicing the boiler and suggested that it would be easy to link the stove’s line to the other (unlocked, functioning) line – presuming, though, I’d need permits for that? Or should I just forget the whole issue and get a non-gas stove (right now making do with a hot plate and rice cooker, but it would be nice to have an oven back)?