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Q&A

Impact of 'City of Yes' zoning changes on building inspections and staffing

0:29:42

·

3 min

Council Member Ariola inquires about the Department of Buildings' adjustments to handle the expected increase in construction due to 'City of Yes' zoning changes, and Constadino Sirakis outlines the department's plans.

Sirakis describes plans for staff training on 'City of Yes' changes
The department will use digitized CO data to analyze trends and target inspections
Sirakis emphasizes that TCOs are only issued when buildings are deemed safe to occupy
The department plans to use predictive analytics to monitor 'City of Yes' project progress
Sirakis acknowledges the potential need for more staff but highlights recent additions for basement ADU expansion and proactive enforcement

Joann Ariola

0:29:42

So with the city of yes that recently passed for housing and development, what adjustments are you making?

0:29:53

Because a lot of buildings are going to be going up and there's gonna be we're gonna need a lot more inspectors.

0:29:57

We're gonna need a lot more fire inspectors.

0:29:59

We're gonna have a lot of buildings going up and requesting temporary temporary CFOs.

0:30:06

There are going to be many different types of buildings, but most of them will be residential.

0:30:11

So without any type of follow-up, which is what I'm hearing, without a complaint, like that that could be a problem for bad actors to kind of skirt around the policies and procedures and put a building up, get a temporary CFO, and perhaps start putting people in before a CFO is is is has been issued.

0:30:37

How would you backtrack on that?

Constadino (Gus) Sirakis

0:30:39

Well, I think there's a couple of different things that we're doing overall.

0:30:43

I think number one is we are immediately starting at the plan exam phase where we are training our staff.

0:30:50

We are also planning on doing training for the filing public as to what are the changes in City of Yes so that we get the right building in the right area from that standpoint as to what what is allowed and not allowed by City of Yes.

0:31:05

Then further, I think the digitized c of o process, the reason that we have all of these stats is because this is all data to to us that we can share, we can parse down to understand what are the residential occupancies versus the COs that have residential occupancies versus commercial by different areas.

0:31:28

We could see where complaints are coming in as well and maybe compare that with our C of O data.

0:31:36

And I think though also from our standpoint before we issue a TCO to a property, we are confident that the building is safe to occupy.

0:31:46

We would not be letting people in if there were serious safety measures that are necessary to maintain the occupancy from that standpoint.

0:31:59

We are regularly and routinely, you know, pushing back on c of o applications when people are not ready and issuing objections.

0:32:08

There's definitely a lot of back and forth that happens through the c of o process.

0:32:13

And, you know, the TCO could be that because the first half of the building is ready, but the second half has not been completed yet.

0:32:20

So people can move into the first half, but not the second half.

0:32:23

And as floors are added to the building, there may be no interconnection between the two or impact between the two.

0:32:30

So it would be on a case by case basis, but I think our predictive analytics support there would be the best way to look at how are the City of Yes projects progressing as far as are we getting complaints, Are we we can look at HPD complaints as well through through this process if we are able to access their their information and data.

0:32:56

But I do think that it is also definitely every New Yorker's right to call 311 and let us know if they see something that they're not comfortable with from that standpoint.

0:33:04

It will get to us.

0:33:05

We will get get an inspector out there from from that standpoint and do an assessment but the TCO expiration could be a data point that's explored as part of this to see if it is actually leading to issues in the residential realm.

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Number of Certificates of Occupancy granted in recent fiscal years

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FDNY's discretion in fire safety system approval