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REAL ESTATE
BUILDERS
AND
NEW YORK, APRIL 3, 1915
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THE NEW CODE OF CITY ORDINANCES
The Mayor Signs the Recodification Bill, Which Includes the Building Code as Amended
up to the Present Date—Old and New Laws Rearranged for the First Time in Eight Years
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THE city's long struggle for an in¬
telligible and tip-to-date Code of Or¬
dinances reached a most satisfactory
stage on Tuesday of this week, when
Mayor Mitchel signed the ordinance
constituting a new code and returned it
to the Board of Aldermen with the fol¬
lowing message:
"I have approved the proposed Code
of Ordinances and return it to you here¬
with. It is my duty to congratulate the
committee upon their diligence and abil¬
ity in producing this revised code for the
city. You may well feel proud of the re¬
sult attained."
The new code went into effect imme¬
diately upon its approval by the Mayor,
and bj^ its terms repeals all other gen¬
eral ordinances or parts thereof. For
these reasons, it is advisable that the
public generally, and our readers in par¬
ticular, should become acquainted with
the provisions of the new codification,
which will have an important and con¬
stant bearing upon their interests and
responsibilities.
A Forgotten Duty.
Section 57 of the Greater New York
Charter provides that the general ordi¬
nances shall be reduced to a code and
published. It also directs the Board of
Aldermen to appoint a committee that
shall compile and publish such ordi¬
nances annually. The Code of Ordi¬
nances repealed by the new codification
became effective on Jan. 1, 1906. Since
then, it had not been revised, nor had
there been prepared and published in
any year the required compilation of the
general ordinances. This mass of gen¬
eral ordinances was an enigma to law¬
yers and laymen alike.
The provisions of the old code were
not arranged subjectively, as conveni¬
ence demanded, but were imperfectly
correlated, according to the jurisdictions
of the officers charged with their en¬
forcement. It was divided into sixteen
parts, containing, with the amendments
made since Jan. 1. 1906, over 250,000
words. This was greater than the vol¬
ume of the Charter, as amended and
supplemented to date. As in the case
of the Charter, the old code was con¬
gested by needless repetitions, obsolete
provisions and other redundant material.
Its phraseology was antiquated, and, in
many instances, so involved as to be
almost unintelligible.
The Plan of the Code.
In form, the new Code of Ordinances
has been moulded on the lines of the
Consolidated Laws. The provisions re¬
lating to particular subjects have been
correlated and divided into chapters,
which have been arranged in alphabeti¬
cal order. By statute the Sanitary
Code, the Park Ordinances and the
Regulations of the Municipal Explosives
Commission must constitute separate
and independent chapters of the Code
of Ordinances, and each has its own
scheme of section numbering. For
these reasons, it was not feasible to
number all sections of the recodifica¬
tion in a single series, in the fashion of
the Charter, That there might be a
ASST. CORPORATIOX COUNSEL MacXULTY.
Who drafted the new code of ordinances.
uniformity in this particular, the sec¬
tions of each chapter of the new code
have been numbered in a separate
series and grouped in appropriate "arti¬
cles."
The new code contains twenty-eight
chapters numbered and entitled as fol¬
lows:
1. Ceneral provisions. 14.Licenses.
2. Administrative pro- 15.Markets.
visions. 10. Municipal civil
•'• ^'e^hibitTns'' ""* 1^- P ^'-''k''^'' P-^k^-y^
exniDuions. ^^^^ ^^^^ streetb.
4. Bridges. js. Police.
5. Building code. jo. Railroads.
0. Charities. oi). Sanitary code.
(. Corrections. 21. Sewers and drains.
S. Docks. oo street cleaning.
0. Electrical control. 03 streets
10. Explosives and haz- ^4' Trafhc regulations.
ardouB trades. 05 water supply.
11. Firearms. 20. Weights and meas-
12. Fires and fire pre- ures.
vention. 27. Miscellaneous.
l^^. Hospitals. 2S. Repeal.
The Building Laws.
The Building Code was omitted from
the original draft of the new code, be¬
cause it was in process of revision on
the date when the preliminary report of
the Committee on Codification was sub¬
mitted to the Board of Aldermen. Sub¬
sequently, however, the Committee on
Buildings of the Board decided to un¬
dertake the amendment of the code sub¬
ject, rather than to attempt to prepare
an omnibus revision thereof for sub¬
mission as a single ordinance. This
change in plan necessitated the inclu¬
sion of the Building Code, as amended
to date, in the general recodification of
ordinances. Its text has been corre¬
lated and rearranged in articles and sec¬
tions, in conformity with the general
plan of the new code and in the order
suggested by Mr. Rudolph P. Miller,
the technical adviser of the Committee
on Buildings, but without change lU sub¬
stance; except that there has been trans¬
ferred to the Building Code chapter all
ordinance provisions relating to the con¬
struction and alteration of motion pic¬
ture theatres and open-air motion pic¬
ture theatres contained in the motion-
picture ordinance, approved by Mayor
Gaynor, July 8, 1913.
Thirty-two Articles.
The new compilation of the Building
Code contains al! of the amendments
thereof, to date, and is divided into
thirty-two articles numbered and en¬
titled as follows:
Article.
1—General provisions.
J^Materials.
0—Strength of materials.
4—Classification of buildings.
o^Restricted areas.
G—Height, size and arrangement.
T^Light and ventilation.
8—Exit facilities.
t>—Projections beyond building line.
10—Safeguards during construction.
11—Partition fences and walls.
12—Excavations and foundations.
l^—Masonry walls.
14—Wood construction.
15—Iron or steel construction.
16—Reinforced concroto construction.
IT—Fireproof construction.
IS—Firewalls and shafts.
19—Chimneys, flues and heating appliances.
20—Construction above roof.
21—Construction generally.
22—Frame con-^truction.
2^—Buildings of a public character.
24—Motion picture theatres.
25—Theatres and other places of amusement.
26^Miscellaneous structures.
27—Elevators. •
2S—Fire extinguishing appliances.
20—Plumbing and other systems of piping.
oO—Altering, changing or demolishing buildings.
31—Unsafe buildings and collapsed structures.
.'!2^Enforcemont of chapter.
An Inexpensive Work.
The splendid service rendered to the
city by the production of the new Code
of Ordinances is particularly notable,
in that the work was accomplished with¬
out burdening our taxpayers with the
huge outlay for municipal "experts."
"efficiency" engineers and other superior
persons, imported from the prairies and
the everglades, usually required for an
important local undertaking. The new
code was prepared under the supervi¬
sion of the Committee on Codification
of Ordinances of the Board of Alder¬
men, consisting of William H. Pendry,
Chairman Lauren Carroll, Joseph W,
Spencer, Frederick H. Stevenson, Wil¬
liam H. Chorosh, Tsidor M. Rosenblum,
John Kochendorfer. Harry Robitzek.
Louis Jacobson. Arnon L. Squiers,
Louis Wendel, Jr.. and Clarence Schmel¬
zel, with Frank J. Martin as clerk. The
planning and drafting of the code was
the work of A. C. MacNulty. Assistant
Corporation Counsel, who acted as
counsel to thc committee. Aside from
the salaries of these officers and the
cost of the necessary printing, the ac¬
tual expense of the recodification was
less than $1,000.
The Board of Aldermen reco.gnizes
that the new code requires revision of
substance in many of its provisions.
Several ordinances having this end in
view are now pending, and others are
in preparation. The leaders of the board
hope that, before the end of the year,
the code will be made as complete and
satisfactory in substance as it is now
in form and arrangement.