April 18, 2008
Buildings Department Approved Collapsed Crane's Building Plans in Error
Photograph from East 51st Street by gattogrosso212 at flickr
Here's a big WTF: Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster told the City Council yesterday that plans for 303 East 51st Street, the site where a crane collapsed into surrounding buildings and caused the deaths of seven people, were accidentally approved by the department. Apparently the 43-story building's design didn't comply with zoning requirements for the area, and Lancaster "blamed the error on the unnamed plan examiner."
At the time of the March 15 collapse, when a crane broke free of the building and fell south into other building and leveling one townhouse, the Buildings Department and developer James Kennelly were discussing the mistakenly approved plans. Of course, it's very possible the building could have been approved in another design, but this exchange between Lancaster and the Council is priceless. From the Times:
Ms. Lancaster said the building under construction had been approved “not in accordance with the zoning regulation.”City Councilman Tony Avella also ripped into Lancaster, "The leadership of your agency has to go. The agency is clearly out of control. Nothing ever changes. People are dying."“Wow,” said Councilwoman Jessica S. Lappin, whose district includes the site of the crane collapse. “You’re telling me this building should never have been approved in the first place?”
“That is correct,” Ms. Lancaster replied.
Lancaster explained after the hearing that the zoning issues were complicated, "It's a combination of building laws and tax laws and how you can combine them and how you can't." The Buildings Department also announced that 21 of 29 cranes passed inspection. The eight cranes that didn't were, according to Bloomberg News, at the Goldman Sach site, the Trump Soho building, 8 Spruce St., 123 Washington St., 453 West 37th St., 400 East 67th St., 80 Riverside Blvd., and 1431 Second Ave.
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Gee... I wonder if the unnamed plan examiner was paid off by the developer...
You gotta love how the city looks the other way when theres an obvious cloud of corruption hovering over The Great NYC Building Boom of the 2000's.
too late, it's already built.
blame the DOB and who was it who wants quick changes to zoning regs?
Rest assured. The DOB will investigate the DOB screwup.
we don't need any more 'to die-for' luxury high-rises in this city, enough already
"Lancaster explained after the hearing that the zoning issues were complicated"
The DOB should all be fired. The jobs should be filled with smarter folks who are able to understand complicated things.
Sounds like Councilwoman Lappin is jumping to conclusions. We simply don't know what the exact issue is. However, the DOB commissioner should have been more forthright about what specifically is not in accordance with the zoning laws, rather than saying "it's complicated". If the issue wouldn't have substantially changed the project, then it really has nothing to do with the crane collapse.
the building's height had little to due with the crane not being properly fastened to the structure. And at any rate, they should be building as much of any type of housing as possible in this city to increase supply, so height is not really a concern for me.
8 out of 29 cranes failed inspection? More than 25%? Seriously?
kissel, New York doesn't need any more overpriced condos that squeeze out the lower income natives and doom local businesses like the Cheyenne and Moondance diners.
WTF? What does a zoning law have to do with a crane collapse? Talk about a bunch of assholes. What do they do down at buildings all day? Jerk each other off?
Most screwed up local government agencies:
1) Department of Buildings -- Not even a contest here as DOB grabs the top spot for the 17th year in a row. Corruption, incompetence and apathy define this sinkhole.
2) Department of Education -- Singlehandedly responsible for most white flight out of the city. With a budget greater than that of most countries still can't provide a decent education for most of the city's kids. Recently got rolled by the teacher's union once again.
3) Department of Finance -- Earns this spot for two-hour waits at parking violations court.
4) Housing Development Corporation -- Anyone notice any affordable housing being developed lately? Anyway, HDC will forever live on this list for the sins of Russell Harding.
5) Department of Environmental Protection -- Just proposed another water rate increase of 14.5 percent. Last year they hiked the rates over 11 percent and said that this year's hike would be the same. They lied.
The sooner the real estate "boom" goes bust, the better. There's irrational exuberance and then there's just plain insanity.
So does that mean the building won't be finished? and what is built torn down?
#11, although the water rate increase sucks, they have no other option--they are required to pay their debt service, as that has a first claim on revenues. Stupidly, they're in the hole because they continued to provide services (water) to people that didn't pay their bills, which in turn annoyed lenders, who believed that their debt was secured by the fact that the water board was providing a necessary utility that customers couldn't default on (default on payment = no water, making it less likely that people would default).
I agree we don't need any more luxury condos that are bought up and rented out immediately. But I don't think we need any more housing for segments of the poor especially those who only churn kids out, never pay their rent or their utility bills.