Grants the commissioner of buildings of New York City the power to waive provisions of the multiple dwelling law with regard to construction or alteration of multiple dwellings.

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S3584-2013 Actions

• Mar 5, 2013: referred to housing
• Mar 5, 2013: DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
• Mar 5, 2013: PASSED SENATE
• Mar 4, 2013: ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
• Feb 28, 2013: 2ND REPORT CAL.
• Feb 27, 2013: 1ST REPORT CAL.95
• Feb 7, 2013: REFERRED TO HOUSING, CONSTRUCTION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

S3584-2013 Meetings

Housing, Construction and Community Development: Feb 27, 2013

S3584-2013 Calendars

Active List: Mar 5, 2013 , Floor Calendar: Feb 28, 2013 , Floor Calendar: Mar 4, 2013 , Floor Calendar: Mar 5, 2013

S3584-2013 Votes

S3584-2013 Memo

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.

S3584-2013 Text

                      S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
  ________________________________________________________________________

                                    3584

                         2013-2014 Regular Sessions

                              I N  SENATE

                              February 7, 2013
                                 ___________

  Introduced  by  Sen.  GOLDEN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
    printed to be committed to the Committee on Housing, Construction  and
    Community Development

  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

    THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
  BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


    Section  1.    The  multiple  dwelling  law is amended by adding a new
  section 15 to read as follows:

    S 15. VARIATIONS. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY INCONSISTENT PROVISION  OF  THIS
  CHAPTER, FOR MULTIPLE DWELLINGS ERECTED, TO BE ERECTED OR ALTERED IN ANY
  CITY WITH A POPULATION OF ONE MILLION OR MORE, WHERE COMPLIANCE WITH THE
  STRICT  LETTER  OF THIS CHAPTER CAUSES ANY PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES OR ANY
  UNNECESSARY HARDSHIPS, THE COMMISSIONER OF BUILDINGS OF SUCH CITY  SHALL
  HAVE THE POWER, PROVIDED THE SPIRIT AND INTENT OF THIS CHAPTER ARE MAIN-
  TAINED  AND  PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE ARE PRESERVED, TO VARY OR
  MODIFY ANY PROVISION OR REQUIREMENT OF THIS CHAPTER.
    S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.




   EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                        [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                             LBD07369-01-3