BY JESSICA PARKS
City regulators shut down
a Marine Park development
site after the builders fl agrantly
ignored city-approved
construction blueprints —
and put workers’ lives at risk
in the process, according to
a Department of Buildings
spokeswoman.
“We issued a stop work
order for the site…and issued
violations to the contractor
for disregarding the
approved plans and putting
workers in jeopardy by skirting
safety regulations,” said
Abigail Kunitz.
Neighbors fi led 11 offi cial
complaints to the department
since June 2018, claiming
that the project at the intersection
of Avenue T and
Hendrickson Street was not
conforming to the permitted
plans by exceeding height
limits and creating an unapproved
elevator shaft, among
other violations.
The department eventually
conducted an inspection
on the site on Feb. 5 and
found the outlaw elevator
shaft — including a bulkhead
that rises well above the twostory
COURIER L 12 IFE, FEBRUARY 14-20, 2020
building — as well as
missing guardrails and netting
meant to protect construction
workers, according
to Kunitz.
On an otherwise sleepy
street stocked with onefamily
homes, the sizable
height of the rising building
alarmed neighbors, who
claimed the structure did not
match the plans posted outside
of the site.
“It is two completely different
structures than were
presented to people on my
block,” said David Fitzgerald.
“It now has a massive
steel frame with a four-story
tall elevator shaft. We don’t
even know what this building
is.”
The building also entirely
eclipses its next-door neighbor,
blocking all the sunlight
The city shut down construction on an Avenue T building for failing to conform to approved blueprints.
Photo by Zoe Freilich
to the adjoining backyard,
according to Fitzgerald
“The whole building
blocks out all the light from
that man’s backyard,” he
said. “It may not bother everybody,
but the ones that
think like me — that’s just
not right.”
In addition to halting ongoing
construction, the department
slapped the contractors
with two violations
for the illicit activities and
inadequate safety measures.
The building’s developer
did not respond to multiple
requests for comment.
TALL ORDER
City shuts down Marine Park development for
exceeding heigh limits, unapproved elevator
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