Fight Back When Neighboring Buildings Impair Your Quality of Life!
Nov. 30, 2009 — Two of our clients, neighboring cooperatives located in a residentially zoned neighborhood, discovered that a nearby church was being converted into a catering hall — not only an incompatible use, but an impermissible one under current zoning. As we subsequently learned, the church had entered into a long-term lease with a commercial caterer — and for the effect it had on the neighborhood level of noise, garbage, traffic and much else, there would be the Devil to pay.
The caterer, in its dealings with the community board, the state liquor authority and the Department of Buildings (DOB), had represented that it planned to limit its operations to the church auditorium and basement for an occasional wedding or other affair. But after government approvals were granted, it became clear that nothing less than a full-scale catering enterprise was contemplated — operating seven days a week and holding large-scale corporate and charitable events in addition to weddings, oftentimes accommodating guest lists of over 1,000 people.
The steady stream of deliveries of food, flowers, supplies, and sound and other equipment, as well as the events themselves, significantly altered the residential character of the neighborhood. The resulting increase in street and sidewalk traffic, the stream of double-parked delivery trucks, the garbage generated by these events, the noise from late-night revelers and the early morning and late-night deliveries and pick-ups seriously and adversely affected the local residents. Many of these events were scheduled on weeknights — often as many as three or four in one week — and the impact upon families trying to put children to bed or get a good night's sleep before work was serious and intolerable.
After searching the public record and obtaining documents under the Freedom of Information Law, we found what we believed to be not only misstatements and inconsistencies in the caterer's statements to government agencies, but also evidence that what was actually planned would violate the law.
Neighboring Co-ops, to Arms!
Armed with this information, and knowing the difficulties of the upcoming battle, our clients approached the boards of several neighboring cooperatives and organized a neighborhood coalition to address their mutual concerns. They pooled their know-how and contacts as well as their financial resources. They reached out to the larger community and continued to build their coalition. Together with their neighbors, they embarked on an effort to shed light on the commercial catering operation.
Several elected officials became
closely involved in the matter.
This included speaking at community board meetings, writing and meeting with government officials, issuing press releases, and formally challenging the issuance of permits before the relevant government agencies. As a result, several elected officials became closely involved in the matter and worked with the neighborhood coalition to protect their respective constituencies.
While the battle was and continues to be fought on many fronts, including a pending federal lawsuit by the church against New York City, the neighborhood coalition's efforts led to the DOB revoking permit for a change of use (although the revocation is now the subject of a federal lawsuit). And the caterer's two liquor-license applications have both been rejected.
COMMENT Co-op and condo boards are charged with acting in the best interests of the entities they serve. Typically, this encompasses issues such as the maintenance, replacement, repair and upgrading of building systems and reviewing new-purchaser applications. An effective board should, however, be equally cognizant of and anticipate changes transpiring on the sidewalks and streets, for these issues can significantly affect your quality of life.
Often, these issues are too big for individual shareholders/unit-owners to fight on their own. But a board, acting on behalf of all the residents in its building, can share the costs of such neighborhood activism. In addition, by operating through a coalition of boards, community opposition can be organized quickly and efficiently. The participants can tap into the existing organizational structures of these boards, utilizing the established and open lines of communication these boards maintain with their residents.
A diligent board can keep itself informed about developments in its neighborhood with a minimal amount of effort. We recommend you
- review the community board's monthly calendars to develop a sense of the current and potential issues and applications that it is considering;
- designate a board representative to attend local community board meetings to represent the interests of the building, as well as to monitor the proceedings;
- subscribe to and scan the local papers and newsletters for articles of interest; and
- learn about proposed new construction, major alterations, and full demolitions in the community, visit the DOB website's "My Community" section.
Phyllis H. Weisberg, an attorney with Kurzman Karelsen & Frank , is a frequent lecturer and panelist at symposia on Cooperative and Condominium Law.
Adapted from Habitat November 2009. For the complete article and more, join our Archive >>