Mayor Bloomberg, however, urged the Governor to veto the Loft Law, unless it excluded buildings located in New York City's 16 industrial business zones. The powers-that-be arrived at a compromise which excludes buildings in 13 industrial business zones from Loft Law coverage, but includes buildings in the following 3 industrial business zones: Maspeth, Greenpoint-Williamsburg and North Brooklyn.
The current version of the bill (A11524) was reported out of the housing committee and referred to the codes committee today. It provides that a building cannot be considered an "interim multiple dwelling" (IMD) unless it was occupied by at least three or more families living independently from one another during the window period. In addition, the following units would be excluded from coverage:
- units located in a basement or cellar,
- units without an entrance that requires one to pass through another unit,
- units that do not have at least one window opening onto a street or lawful yard or court,
- units that are less than 550 square feet,
- units in buildings which contain a use "actively and currently pursued" in use groups 15 through 18 of the zoning resolution AND which, according to Loft Board rule or regulation, is "inherently incompatible with residential use in the same building."
The proposal to exclude such units indicates, to this blogger, that someone in Albany is actually aware of some of the difficult legalization problems which the Loft Board has faced over the past 28 years.
Additional amendments will be made to the Loft Law this week.
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