Illegal Demo on Bergen Street Destroys Old Stable
At around 8 a.m. on December 29, less than three weeks afte receiving a stop-work order for illegal demolition, another crane showed up at the former carriage house at 528 Bergen Street to finish the job despite the lack of a permit. After the activity was called in by a resident at 534 Bergen, DEP…
At around 8 a.m. on December 29, less than three weeks afte receiving a stop-work order for illegal demolition, another crane showed up at the former carriage house at 528 Bergen Street to finish the job despite the lack of a permit. After the activity was called in by a resident at 534 Bergen, DEP and DOB showed up and stopped work again. According to Property Shark, the model citizen who owns, and illegally demolished, 528 Bergen is Carl Merola of 388 Little Clove Road in Staten Island. What a guy.
Building Falls in Brooklyn [Brooklyn Downtown Star] GMAP
The community board is ineffective regarding these kind of issues, at least in my personal experience
Without debating the merits of the building that was torn down, demolishing a building without permits is quite a serious offence. In order to get a demo permit a long checklist must first be satisfied including checking the building for asbestos, notification of adjoining property owners (5 day notification) putting up a sidewalk shed, and some 15 or so other items. The Brooklyn office of the Dept. of Building is a disgrace. Only after someone is killed does the Best Squad even bother to show up. My bets are that the community should brace itself for a developer who will be working before 7am and past 6pm, on weekends, holidays, without any regards to the quality of life of those who live on the street. Complain to your community board as there is a current investigation of the DoB.
What’s the big deal. It’s just another $hithole torn down. DOB should sent this guy a thank you note for not wasting their time.
The DOB is famously under-staffed and over-worked and penalties are rarely meted out, or even enforced, commensurate with the offences committed. Only the very most egregious scofflaws get pursued. I’m sure the demolition of this building barely caused a stir at DOB. And although I personally liked the old building and felt it had potential, we already knew in the neighborhood that condos were planned for the site so this demo would almost certainly have happened anyway. So yes, Shahn, it’s a waste of your good will, time, and money to play by the rules. As I’ve posted on your reno blog on this site, just go ahead and do your thing. Any infractions will be so tiny that you can smooth things out after the fact. I only say this because it’s clear from your comments thus far that you plan to do a sympathetic, quality renovation.
I agree with Malymis. Lock ’em up!!! Better yet, give ’em the death penalty! And while we’re at it, why not fry all real estate developers? Justice! I demand justice!!!*
*This poster does not work for B. Ratner
He was issued a stop work order for illegal demolition. He obivioulsy did not have a permit for whatever reason. I know a lot of people who have done work without a permit because it takes a lot of time and money to get a permit approved. Obviously this should be one of the costs of a project, but people often do what this guy did and skirt the rules. Normally though, they aren’t nearly as flagrant about it.
This guy should go to Jail.
It’s not difficult to get a building permit. What are you talking about? I’ve done lots of contruction in NYC and never had a problem with permits.
Con Edison, on the other hand, is a pain in the neck. Installing new gas or electric service can take forever because of long delays between inspections and final turn on.
On January 9th, David Mills, badge #1760 from DOB inspected the building and determined that there was “No Action Necessary Based Upon Physical Observation, No Construction Activity”. Did the DOB determine that there was no construction activity because they had already torn the building down? What a joke.