Preservationists Pushing for Extra-Protection Bill
There is plenty of dissatisfaction among city preservationists about the Landmarks Preservation Commission. (Complaints tend to center on things like the politicization of the office, a Manhattan-centric orientiation, and the bullheadedness and unresponsiveness of staffers.) Some of these preservationists are hoping that the city council will come through on a bill it’s currently considering to…
There is plenty of dissatisfaction among city preservationists about the Landmarks Preservation Commission. (Complaints tend to center on things like the politicization of the office, a Manhattan-centric orientiation, and the bullheadedness and unresponsiveness of staffers.) Some of these preservationists are hoping that the city council will come through on a bill it’s currently considering to close what they call the “landmarks loophole.”
In its present form, the bill would require the Department of Buildings to suspend previously issued permits for structures that are given landmark protection, and to permanently halt any work on such buildings that is not yet too far along. The bill would also direct the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Buildings Department to communicate with each other about properties under consideration for protected status. In effect, they would be required to give each other a heads-up when new permit requests arrive or when newly considered historic buildings and areas are studied.
The LPC disputes that this so-called loophole is much of a problem and that the current 40-day delay for calendared properties provides plenty of protection to endangered buildings. Others, like HDC’s Simeon Bankoff, support the bill: It doesn’t make logical sense for one city agency to say, ‘This building is important enough to be preserved,’ and another city agency saying, ‘Well, but they already have the permits.’ As does the Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. The loophole, he says is “so big you could drive a bulldozer through it.”
Preservationists’ Rallying Cry [NY Times]
Photo by Zombie37
I thought the “heads up” was already being done. After our DOB building permit expired, DOB will not allow us to renew it until we get a LPC permit,(which will take about a month) since our property is calendared for landmark. Who dropped the ball on State Street?
witness the building at the end of State Street… it was a landmarked building… the developer got permits and gutted it… LPC halted construction, but then the argument was: “well we already have the permits and the damage is done…”