Dozens of parking lots in New York have structural defects and need immediate repairs

Dozens of parking lots in New York City have potentially dangerous structural defects that require immediate repair. This was told by a senior official of the Department of Buildings (DOB) of New York, according to the New York Post. He shared this information with reporters a week after the collapse of a parking lot in Manhattan, which killed a man.

After the collapse, city inspectors inspected about 4,000 parking lots currently in use in five New York City boroughs. At least 61 of them currently have open cases due to class 1 violations related to non-compliance with the rules for the operation of buildings, said Acting Commissioner of the Department of Buildings Kazimir Vilenchik.

Class 1 violations are described by the city as “immediately dangerous” and “require immediate corrective action.” Vilenchik explained that such violations are “related to the stability of the structure or structural problems.”

According to him, each of the 61 parking lots with violations will be checked by a special group of inspectors. The Department emphasized that it had not received reports that any of these parking lots were structurally unstable. But inspectors check them for reasons of caution.

On the subject: Parking collapsed in Manhattan: one person died, several were injured

DOB warned that the list of 61 objects may change. However, they have yet to find out if the violations are directly related to parking structures or other parts of the building.

The list includes both commercial parking structures and parking lots that occupy part of residential or commercial buildings.

Vilenchik did not give a deadline for the completion of security checks. But he promised that “some parking lots will be checked before the end of this year.”

The collapsed parking lot had cracks in the structure long ago

Officials are still investigating the cause of the April 18 Manhattan parking lot collapse. Then the manager of the garage, Willis Moore, died, 6 more people were injured. The working theory, according to an internal FDNY memo, is that the three-story garage likely collapsed under the weight of too many cars on the roof. The advanced age of the building also contributed to this, the memo says.

The building in which the car park is located has many open cases of violations. As well as a long history – since 2003 – of structural problems requiring repair, including huge cracks in the walls.

The crack-related violation was noted in a summons issued to the building’s owners in 2009.

In response, the owners were asked to hire an outside engineer to assess the damage and compile a list of necessary repairs. Applications for renovation permits were submitted to DOB ​​in 2010. But after that, the owners never submitted the necessary documents confirming the elimination of violations.

“We don’t have a definitive certificate on the elimination of these violations,” Vilenchik said.

It is not yet clear if any of the defects or malfunctions found by inspectors could have contributed to the collapse of the structure.

The DOB chief said that after the collapse of the building, officials will review some aspects of existing laws regarding buildings. They want to “make sure owners take more responsibility for regular maintenance.”