Zoning and land use
How a Board of Standards and Appeals application runs
A Board of Standards and Appeals case runs on a public record: filing, community board, hearing, continued hearings, then a vote. Here is the sequence.
How does a Board of Standards and Appeals application actually work?
Quick Answer
Getting relief from a rule
Who does this land on?
Anyone seeking a variance, one of the special permits assigned to the Board, or an appeal from a final Department of Buildings determination.
What governs it?
- The New York City Charter provisions establishing the Board and its jurisdiction over variances, listed special permits and appeals
- The Board’s own rules of practice and procedure, which set filing requirements and hearing conduct
- The Zoning Resolution findings for whichever relief is sought
- Environmental review requirements attaching to the Board’s discretionary action
- The community board referral, which is advisory but shapes the record
How does the process run?
- Confirm jurisdiction: an appeal needs a final determination from the Department of Buildings before the Board can hear it
- File the application with plans, a statement addressing each finding, a radius diagram and the environmental forms
- Serve notice on the community board and the affected property owners as the rules require
- Appear at the community board, where opposition and support are first put on the record
- Appear at the Board public hearing, where commissioners question the applicant and the record stays open
- Answer the Board’s requests in writing between continued hearings, because most cases are decided on the supplemental submissions
- Receive the resolution, read the conditions, and file at the Department of Buildings against the approved plans
Where does it bite in a transaction?
- An appeal is filed before the Department has issued a final determination and is dismissed on jurisdiction
- Notice to neighbors is defective and the hearing is adjourned
- The community board opposes and the applicant has no answer ready for the objection that follows at the Board
- A grant issues with conditions nobody diaries, and the deadline to obtain a permit passes
Do you need a final determination before appealing to the Board?
For an appeal, yes. The Board reviews determinations of the Department of Buildings, so the objection has to be worked through plan examination and reduced to a final determination first. Filing early wastes the calendar slot, and the calendar is the scarcest thing in the process.
Is the community board vote binding?
No. The community board recommendation is advisory. It matters anyway, because it puts the local objections into the record early, it tells you what the Board will ask about, and a case that arrives with the community board resolved is a shorter case.
How much of the case is decided in writing?
Most of it. The hearing is where the questions are asked; the answers usually arrive as supplemental submissions between continued hearing dates. Applications succeed or fail on the quality of that written record, which is why the studies are prepared before anything is filed.
What else should you read before you file or sign?
In the glossary
- OATH Hearings DivisionThe City tribunal, OATH (formerly ECB), that adjudicates summonses from most New York City enforcement agencies. Unpaid or defaulted summonses beco...
- Violation (cited against the premises)An agency record that a condition at a property does not comply with a code or rule. It attaches to the premises and follows the property through a...
- Certificate of Occupancy (C of O)The Department of Buildings document that fixes a building's legal use and occupancy. Lenders and title companies read it to confirm the property c...
Zoning and land use
- Use varianceA use variance asks the Board of Standards and Appeals to permit a use the district bars. It is the hardest relief in NYC zoning. Here is what it t...
- Area varianceAn area variance asks for relief from bulk rules: floor area, height, setback, yards, parking. Here is how it differs from a use variance and what ...
- Special permitsA special permit is relief the Zoning Resolution already contemplates, granted on stated findings. Here is who grants which one and how the two pat...
- DOB objections on zoning groundsA plan examiner raises a zoning objection when the filing does not match the Zoning Resolution. Here are the four ways it is cleared and how long e...
- Environmental review of a land use applicationDiscretionary approvals trigger environmental review in New York City. As-of-right filings do not. Here is what the assessment covers and where it ...
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Legal Disclaimer: This page is general information about New York practice. It is not legal advice, it does not account for the terms of any particular contract, building or transaction, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. This is attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.