BILL NUMBER:S3584

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the multiple dwelling law, in relation
to granting the commissioner of buildings of the city of New York the
power to waive provisions of the multiple dwelling law with regard to
the construction or alteration of multiple dwellings in such city

PURPOSE:  This proposed legislation would authorize the Commissioner of
Buildings of the City of New York to vary or modify a provision or
requirement of the Multiple Dwelling Law in its application to the
construction or alteration of multiple dwellings in New York City, where
strict compliance with such law would cause practical difficulties or
unnecessary hardships.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one amends the Multiple Dwelling Law (MDL) by adding a new
section 15 to provide that in a city of one million or more, the Commis-
sioner of buildings of such city is authorized to vary or modify any
provision of the MDL when compliance with the strict letter of the MDL
produces undue hardship and a variation or modification would be neither
contrary to the spirit and intent of the MDL nor contrary to the preser-
vation of public health, safety, and welfare.

Section two provides that this act shall take effect immediately.

              

EXISTING LAW:  Under current law, the provisions of the Multiple Dwell-
ing Law cannot be modified or varied by the Commissioner of Buildings
for a City with a population of one million or more.

JUSTIFICATION:  The Commissioner of Buildings already may waive
provisions of the Building Code pursuant to section 645 of the New York
City Charter.  This act would extend the Commissioner's waiver to the
Multiple Dwelling Law (MDL), in order to address unique circumstances in
the construction or alteration of buildings in New York City and that
may cause practical difficulties in complying with provisions of the
MDL.

Currently, only the. Board of Standards and Appeals may issue variances
of the Multiple Dwelling Law in New York City. Nothing in this proposed
legislation would affect this power of the Board of Standards and
Appeals. This act would simply allow the agency to which an application
is made to vary provisions of a law it is already authorized to enforce,
thus streamlining the approval of permit applications.

This legislation will encourage safety-enhancing alterations in the
thousands of New York City buildings constructed under the precursor to
the MDL, the State Tenement Law of 1901 or 1929, or the building Codes
of 1938. These are mostly wood-framed, non-fireproof buildings.  The MDL
has, in many cases, proven so prescriptive as to deter even simple
alterations that would make these buildings safer. As a result, building

owners allow the buildings to deteriorate, and tenants suffer the conse-
quences.

For example, a five-story tenement building in Manhattan may have wooden
stairs, doors that open directly into the stairway, and inadequate
egress -taken together, a substantial safety risk. For an owner to
upgrade or improve any of these individual features, the entire building
may need to brought up to a standard under the MDL that is, as a practi-
cal matter, impossible, because of the physical layout of the building.
Faced with a choice of a gut renovation or doing nothing, an owner might
reasonably choose the latter course.  If, however, the Buildings Depart-
ment could grant a waiver of the MDL, improvements could be made that
would substantially increase the safety of the building. Wooden stairs
could be replaced with metal stairs, sprinklers could be installed and
doors could be adjusted - even if the stairs don't meet the required
width called for under the MDL.

Accordingly, the Mayor urges the earliest possible favorable consider-
ation of this proposal by the Legislature.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:  2012: S.5484 - 3rd Reading 2011: S.5484 - Passed
Senate

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:  It is not anticipated that this legislation will
have any significant fiscal impact on the State

EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act shall take effect immediately.