Adams targets sidewalk sheds in overhaul plan

Up to $10,000 in penalties are in the cards for building owners

Mayor Eric Adams and DOB Commissioner Jimmy Oddo (Getty)

Nicole Rosenthal

Jul 24, 2023, 2:45 PM

New rules and maybe a new law are coming to curb the city’s persistent sidewalk shed epidemic, the Adams administration announced Monday.

The overhaul, dubbed Get Sheds Down, is the most ambitious attempt to scale back the scourge of green eyesores, which has plagued the real estate industry and civic-minded New Yorkers for decades.

The plan offers benefits and drawbacks for building owners.

It calls for increased penalties and permit fees to push landlords to repair their facades rather than leave protective sheds up for years, as some have done. It also could reduce the number of sidewalk sheds that go up in the first place by cutting back on the frequency of inspections and standardizing netting as an alternative under certain circumstances.

The city will also move to beautify and diversify sheds, in part by removing the required “hunter green” color from the building code.

“Imagine visiting Rome, Tokyo, or Rio and seeing scaffolding everywhere,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement. “New Yorkers wouldn’t be happy with these unsightly constructions in other cities, and we shouldn’t be ok with them here at home.”

Sheds, on average, stay up for around 500 days in the city, officials said. There are 9,000 permitted construction sheds across nearly 3 percent of sidewalk space in the five boroughs, but sheds are concentrated in Manhattan’s commercial districts.

“On any given day, more than 25 percent of our district’s sidewalks and public spaces are covered by constructions sheds and scaffolding,” said James Mettham, president of the Flatiron NoMad Partnership, in a statement.

The plan calls for monthly financial penalties to building owners maintaining sheds in the public right of way and not directly related to new construction or demolition projects. The penalties would start 90 days after a shed is permitted and run as high as $6,000 per month.

Additional financial penalties could come for building owners in business districts such as Midtown, Long Island City, Downtown Brooklyn and the Bronx’s Grand Concourse when milestones aren’t met for required facade repairs, the administration said.

Property owners could be issued up to a $10,000 penalty when they fail to complete repairs within two years, get required permits within six months or file a repair application within three months.

The duration of a shed permit will be starkly reduced to 90 days from 12 months, and penalty waivers for expired shed permit violations will no longer be granted by the Department of Buildings.

New fees will also be implemented for each renewal of a sidewalk shed permit and penalties will be hiked for sheds that remain when its permit has expired.

The agency will also conduct reviews to determine if inspections can be made less frequent without risking pedestrian safety.

The Real Estate Board of New York, which has historically noted that it would be costly for landlords to take sheds down and reinstall them during later phases of construction, was not among the litany of stakeholders quoted in the mayor’s press release. But it expressed support for the overhaul in a statement provided to The Real Deal.

“It is important to update scaffold policies to help improve quality of life and retail leasing opportunities,” REBNY said. “We look forward to working with the Adams administration and other stakeholders on this important issue.”

The administration aims to promote new shed design ideas for city’s construction codes and make interim changes to existing plywood-and-pipe sidewalk sheds with added lighting, allowing art to be displayed on panels and expanding color choices.

A City Canvas program will be able to transform the city’s 340 miles of construction sheds into works that will “capture each neighborhood’s incredible array of cultures, histories, and talents,” said Stephen Pierson, the executive director of ArtBridge.

The Department of Buildings will post an official bulletin sometime this year outlining when facade safety netting can be used in place of sheds. The administration hopes to create a standard by installing netting to replace a shed in front of Queens County Supreme Court on Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica.

The administration will also explore the creation of a low-interest loan program for small property owners who need to do facade repairs.

“Sidewalk sheds are an important public safety tool to protect New Yorkers from hazardous conditions, but they are no substitute for proper building maintenance,” Buildings Commissioner James Oddo said.

New York