Wait... HOW Many Balconies Does Local Law 11 Say to Inspect? ALL of Them??
April 30, 2014 — After a woman recently fell to her death when a high-rise balcony gave way, New York City updated its well-known façade-inspection law, Local Law 11, now called the Façade Inspection and Safety Program (FISP), which applies only to buildings higher than six stories. The biggest change for co-op and condo boards is that inspections must now include the railings of balconies, terraces, roofs and even some fire escapes, Does that mean an inspector has enter into every apartment in the building with a balcony in order to do that?
Dennis DePaola, executive vice president of the management agency Orsid Realty, says the new rules indicate that "balcony railings must be inspected. The initial reaction to this language in the industry was that 100 percent inspection of all balconies was required, and thus the inspection alone would cost five figures. The September [2014] memo clarified that the consultant may determine that all balcony railings should be checked."
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Stephen Varone, president of Rand Engineering & Architecture, says that with his firm, each inspector determines what is reasonable to do when looking to see that balconies are structurally sound. He offers an example of how one might approach a balcony inspection: "[Say a] building has 16 lines of balconies with 12 balconies on each line, they're all the same design, and the visual inspection seems good. Then I pick 12 at random to check each one physically."
Still, DePaola wonders whether there will be more guidance forthcoming from the Department of Buildings on how many balconies must be inspected. He estimates he has about a dozen buildings in his portfolio that will have to do the follow-up report.
In an email, DOB spokeswoman Kelly Magee says the exact number to be reviewed and inspected is up to the consultant, who will take into account "the configuration of the buildings, total number of appurtenances/balconies at the building, age of construction, materials used (steel, aluminum, masonry, wrought-iron, glass, Plexiglas, etc.)." Mark LiCalzi, president of Luke LiCalzi Consulting Engineers, says the issue is clear: "It's up to the professional to determine the sampling."
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