North 7-8 Investors, LLC v. Newgarden

43 Misc. 3d 623, 982 N.Y.S.2d 704
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 26, 2014
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 43 Misc. 3d 623 (North 7-8 Investors, LLC v. Newgarden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
North 7-8 Investors, LLC v. Newgarden, 43 Misc. 3d 623, 982 N.Y.S.2d 704 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Wayne R Saitta, J.

Petitioner, North 7-8 Investors, LLC, moves this court pursuant to RPAPL 881 for an order granting petitioner a license to enter the adjoining property owned by respondent Mark A. New-garden. Respondent cross-moved to dismiss the petition and for sanctions.

The petition is granted upon the terms and conditions set forth below and the cross motion is denied.

Petitioner, North 7-8 Investors, LLC, is the owner of the property located on block 2322, lots 10, 11, 28, and 30, in the North-[625]*625side neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Respondent Mark A. Newgarden resides at and is the owner of 18 Havemeyer Street, Brooklyn, New York (block 2322, lot 18), which abuts part of petitioner’s property. Specifically the rear wall of respondent’s one-story garage which is on his west property line abuts approximately 25 feet of petitioner’s east property line. Petitioner’s property is an irregularly shaped parcel that runs the full width of block 2322 from North 7th to North 8th Street and is approximately 180,000 square feet.

According to the testimony of Tomer Yogev, petitioner’s project manager, the petitioner is currently developing two seven-story buildings on the property that will contain 159 residential units.

Originally, petitioner sought a license to gain access to respondent’s property to shore respondent’s garage, and to place a protective covering on a deck built on top of respondent’s garage roof in order to protect the roof deck during construction of the buildings. Petitioner also sought a license for temporary scaffold that would project into respondent’s air space in order to allow workers to complete and waterproof the facade of one of the new buildings.

Petitioner sought access to shore the rear wall of respondent’s garage because the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) had made that a condition of lifting a partial stop work order it had issued, prohibiting work on the area adjacent to respondent’s rear garage wall. This partial stop work order prevented petitioner from demolishing a portion of wall on its property that was within a few inches of respondent’s rear wall. Petitioner also sought to install a covering on the top of respondent’s roof deck, as required by DOB, to protect it from objects that might fall from petitioner’s property during the course of construction.

Respondent and petitioner engaged in lengthy negotiations over a license agreement to allow petitioner access to respondent’s property. In fact, the negotiations were begun by petitioner’s predecessor in interest. Respondent’s architect raised several objections to the manner in which the shoring work was to be done, to the manner in which the roof deck was to be protected and to the lack of completeness or specificity in the plans presented by petitioner.

Additionally, respondent seeks reimbursement for his architectural and legal fees incurred in reviewing petitioner’s proposals. The parties were unable to come to an agreement and petitioner [626]*626commenced this proceeding. Respondent cross-moved to dismiss the proceeding and for sanctions pursuant to Rule 130 (Rules of Chief Admin of Cts [22 NYCRR] § 130-1.1), arguing that he has not denied access but is simply insisting on reasonable protections and conditions for such access. Respondent also argues that access is not needed because petitioner could construct its building by setting the building back from the shared property line.

In response to the objections raised by respondent’s architect, petitioner modified its plans to reduce the need for access to respondent’s property. The revised plans call for no shoring of respondent’s rear garage wall and for taking down the adjacent wall on petitioner’s property with hand tools. Petitioner also revised its plans so as to no longer require underpinning of respondent’s building.

Petitioner has modified its proposed roof protection plan so that it does not have to cover respondent’s roof deck with plywood to protect the roof during the installation of windows and finishing of the building facade. Also, petitioner will no longer need to use the deck for access to scaffolding. Under the new proposed plans, petitioner will construct a cantilevered safety balcony at the third floor level of its new building which will project into respondent’s air space over his roof deck. The work platform will provide access to a scaffold attached to petitioner’s building. Netting will be installed from the building to the safety balcony to protect respondent’s property from any falling material.

Section 881 of the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law provides that

“[wjhen an owner or lessee seeks to make improvements or repairs to real property so situated that such improvements or repairs cannot be made by the owner or lessee without entering the premises of an adjoining owner or his lessee, and permission so to enter has been refused, the owner or lessee seeking to make such improvements or repairs may commence a special proceeding for a license so to enter pursuant to article four of the civil practice law and rules. The petition and affidavits, if any, shall state the facts making such entry necessary and the date or dates on which entry is sought. Such license shall be granted by the court in an appropriate case upon such terms as justice requires. The li[627]*627censee shall be liable to the adjoining owner or his lessee for actual damages occurring as a result of the entry.”

The construction of a new building is an improvement of real property within the meaning of section 881. (Matter of Rosma Dev., LLC v South, 5 Misc 3d 1014[A], 2004 NY Slip Op 51369[U] [Sup Ct, Kings County 2004]; Deutsche Bank Trust v 120 Greenwich Dev. Assoc., 7 Misc 3d 1006[A], 2005 NY Slip Op 50467[U] [Sup Ct, NY County 2005].)

While respondent has shown that access to the extent originally sought by petitioner was not necessary in order to construct its new building, petitioner will still require access to respondent’s property to finish that portion of the exterior east wall of the building which abuts the rear wall of respondent’s garage. Access is deemed necessary even where the access is necessary because a building is constructed to the lot line of a property. (Sunrise Jewish Ctr. of Val. Stream v Lipko, 61 Misc 2d 673 [Sup Ct, Nassau County 1969].)

While the petition does fail to set forth the dates for which access is sought as required by the language of RPAPL 881, petitioner has stated that it seeks access for approximately one year. There is little purpose in dismissing the petition on this ground and requiring petitioner to bring a new petition when the court can simply set the duration of the license in its order.

Section 881 provides that a license shall be granted “upon such terms as justice requires.” Such terms as justice requires extends to the nature and extent of access that is necessary, the duration such access may be necessary, as well as what protections may be necessary to safeguard the adjoining owner’s property.

The statute and case law provide that petitioner is strictly liable for any damage it may cause to respondent’s property. (RPAPL 881; Sunrise Jewish Ctr. of Val. Stream v Lipko, 61 Misc 2d 673 [Sup Ct, Nassau County 1969]; MK Realty Holding, LLC v Scneider,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
43 Misc. 3d 623, 982 N.Y.S.2d 704, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/north-7-8-investors-llc-v-newgarden-nysupct-2014.