Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 100, no. 2578: Articles]: August 11, 1917

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REAL ESTATE Hi AND (Copyright. 1917, by The Record and Guide Co.) NEW YORK, AUGUST 11, 1917 OCCUPANCY RESTRICTIONS UNDER ZONE LAW Doubt Exists as to What Law Permits Though in Force a Year—Operation Explained in Concise Form PART ONE. ALTHOUGH the restrictions as to the use or occupancy of buildings and premises, commonly called the Zone Law, have been in effect in all parts of New York City for a year, there is still sufficient doubt among the public as to what the law permits and what it pro¬ hibits to warrant a short exposition. The following paragraphs are offered unof¬ ficially, but they should convey a fairly accurate idea of the operation of the Zone Law. The city has been divided into four classes of districts or zones. The "un¬ restricted" is all that its name implies; the Zone Law applies no restrictions whatever to the use or occupancy of ■buildings or premises located within it. The "undetermined" districts comprise that part of the city which was so un¬ developed as to give little or no sign of its future. It is. pending its zoning, an unrestricted district. The remainder of the city is in either the "business" or "residence" district. By "business" or "residence" is meant not necessarily the character of its development, but rather the zone into which it has been placed by the Board of Estimate and Appor¬ tionment, as shown on its zone maps. The Zone Law may be divided into two grand divisions; 1, that applying to new buildings erected after July 25, 1916, and 2, that applying to existing build¬ ings and to changes in occupancy in ex¬ isting and future buildings. For brevity, the word buildings will be employed to include all structures and premises, in¬ cluding lands which is unbuilt upon. Referring to new buildings the uses permitted in the residence zones are de¬ fined by the Zone Law as follows: Section 3. Residence Districts. In a residence district no building shall be erected other than a building, with its usual accessories, intended or designed exclusively for one or more of the fol¬ lowing specified uses: (1) Dwellings, which shall include dwellings for one or more families and boarding houses, and also hotels which have thirty or more sleeping rooms. (2) Clubs, excepting clubs, the chief activity of which is a service customarily carried on as a business. (3) Churches. (4) Schools, libraries or public mu¬ seums. (5) Philanthropic or eleemosynary uses or institutions, other than correc¬ tion institutions. (6) Hospitals and sanitariums. (7) Railroad passenger stations. (8) Farming, truck gardening or green houses. In a residence district no building or premises shall be used for any use other than a use above specified for which buildings may be erected and for the ac¬ cessory uses customarily incident there¬ to. The term accessory use shall not in¬ clude a business nor shall it include any building or use not located on the same lot with the building or use to which it is accessory. A private garage for more than five motor vehicles shall not be deemed an accessory use. These are general classifications and as might be expected do not specifically include many border-line cases. A bor- By FRANCIS P. SCHIAVONE der-line case is generally either a com¬ bination of a permitted and a prohibited use or a use which may be either a pro¬ hibited or a permitted use depending on its individual characteristics. Thus, while schools are permitted in a residence dis¬ trict, a school for domestics would not be permitted if it included an employment agency among its activities. There would be no objection to the school in the residence district provided its em¬ ployment agency were located in a busi¬ ness or unrestricted zone. So also in the case of a school for thc blind having a department where books for the blind are embossed and bound, a distinction must be drawn between the use which may be a proper accessory of the school and a use which may be a business or in¬ dustry and not properly an accessory. If the embossing and binding were done cliiefiy or wholly by the blind such activ¬ ity might be construed to be a proper fiinction of the school, but if others were employed in this bookmaking, it would be considered as a use incompat¬ ible with the restrictions of the residence district even though the books were made for the blind. Accessory Uses. A residence having on the same lot a large number of dog kennels for the owner's dogs might properly be consid¬ ered an accessory use only if there is an entire absence of business, whether sale, service or exhibition, on the prem¬ ises. Of course, if the dogs constituted a nuisance it could be abated under the Sanitary Code. A garage may be erected in a residence district only upon the same lot with a residence. It must be occupied exclu¬ sively by the cars owned and used by the occupants of the residence; space may not be let to those not living on same lot. It must be free from all business use. Thus a garage might not be erected for public hacks, taxicabs or other cars let or hired out even though the owner and operator owned and occupied the residence on the same lot. So also a dis¬ tinction must be drawn between a garage which is an accessory to a residence and a residence accessory to a garage. Thus a buildinjf. being a garage on the ground floor and a residence above, might be classified according to the importance or size of its uses. If the area devoted to the garage were as great as or greater than that given over to the residence, it should most certainly be considered a garage with an accessory residence. Such a use would not be permitted in a resi¬ dence district. In any case a garage for more than five cars is excluded. Garages and Stables. LTnlike the rules of the Fire Preven¬ tion Bureau the Zone Law includes mo¬ torcycles as well as automobiles under the term rnotor vehicles. Stables are to be treated in the same manner as garages. A limit of five bnrses is placed upon private stables. The stable must be unon the same lot as the residence to which it is accessory and the horses must be used by the oc¬ cupants only of the residence and not in anv business or trade. A combined stable and garage will be limited as to the ownership nnd use of horses and cars as above. The aggregate number of horses and cars mav not exceed five. Hotels having thirty or more sleeping rooms are permitted in a residence dis¬ trict. A hotel having less than thirty is not permitJ.Q.d. The question as to the admissibility of a cafe, restaurant, bowl¬ ing alleys, barber shop, cloak room, etc., all of them businesses if conducted in¬ dependently of the hotel, must be de¬ cided by the conditions in each case. It is reasonable to class these activities as necessary accessories of a hotel if they, their entrances and their practices, in¬ sure their being patronized exclusively by the guests of the hotel. If they are arranged to invite an outside trade they will fall into the ordinary business classi¬ fication and thereby be excluded from the residence district. Clubs are permitted in a residence dis¬ trict except such clubs as have as their chief activity a use commonly construed as a business. Thus a club, so called, having as its primary activity a cafe, dance hall, athletic show or other busi¬ ness would be excluded from a residence district. A museum is another occupancy per¬ mitted in the residence zone, but a dis¬ tinction must be drawn against those pseudo museums, the chief or sole pur¬ pose of which is to sell or advertise the objects exhibited. Thus the commercial picture gallery would not be permitted in a residential zone. A theatre, show or circus is to be re¬ garded as a business, but it would seem reasonable to permit occasional private theatricals in a residence or club in a residence district if not conducted for profit. A skating rink, ice or roller, tennis courts or other such places will be con¬ strued as a business use of the premises if admission is charged or if they are in any way conducted for gain. Advertis¬ ing signboards are also to be construed as a business occupancy. Greenhouses are permitted in a resi¬ dence district, but if a greenhouse were erected in a well-develooed section, e. g., lower or central Manhattan, for the chief purpose of selling flowers not grown on the premises or conducting the busi¬ ness of florist, it would be construed as a business and not permitted to locate in a residence zone. A question which has often arisen is as to the status of a .milliner or dress¬ maker. The Zone Law was not designed to prevent those household activities which may be carried on without chang¬ ing the residential character of the street and will permit a dressmaker or milliner to enter a residence district so long^ as only occupants of the residence are en¬ gaged and no outside help is employed. There is. of course, the added require¬ ment that the building be given none of tbe characteristics as a business struc¬ ture. This same ruling applies to physi¬ cians' offices or artists' studios. An interpretation of the Zone Law by the Board of Appeals holds that a build¬ ing exclusively for phvsicians' offices, laboratories and operatinor rooms and havincr an apartment only-for the super¬ intendent is to be deemed a sanitarium and as such admissible in a residence zone. A nurses' home, so called,- would not be permitted to locate in a residence diS- tr-ct if. in addition to beine the home of one or more nurse<5. it was an employ¬ ment aeencv for others-. ■ ' (TO BE CONTINUED.) RECORD AND GUIDE: IS IX ITS FIFTIETH YEAR OF CONTINUOUS PUBLICATION.