Politics & Government

Avella Introduces Bill to End Self Certification for Developers

State senator and civic leaders say DOB process puts neighborhoods at risk.

State Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, joined northeast Queens civic leaders in Bayside Friday to announce legislation that would discontinue the process of self-certification for developers.  

The senator said the process, in which developers certify their own properties rather have them inspected by the city’s Department of Buildings, has long plagued communities in his district.  

“I have been a long standing proponent of abolishing the self certification procedure, which creates huge loopholes for shady developers,” Avella said. “A great majority of the illegal construction that goes on in my district and beyond is due to the fact that the building plans were self-certified.”  

The senator and civic leaders said the city’s Department of Buildings did not have the resources to inspect complaints for all of the problem sites throughout the five boroughs.  

Therefore, the DOB should hire more plan examiners to inspect plans during the review phase, rather than allow self certification, they said.  

“We have been after legislation like this for half a dozen years,” said Terry Castle, of the North Flushing Civic Association. “We’ve found too many times that self certification plans are in violation of the zoning code or building requirements.”
 
Michael Feiner, of the Bayside Hills Civic Association, said he believed self certification was the “most illogical” city practice.  

“The real estate industry runs New York City,” said Warren Schreiber, of the Bay Terrace Community Alliance. “Standing in the way of safe building practices is not good. It puts people at risk.”  

Avella said that a majority of the problem sites that were self certified resulted from erroneous plans being submitted, rather than building plans being changed after approval.  

“With self certification, they are basically saying, ‘My plans are good,’” he said. “But time and time again, we are finding self certification means fraudulent applications. I understand that the DOB wants to speed up the development process, but this has opened the flood gates.”


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