New York City Mayor Eric Adams has signed into law a legislative package aimed at reforming the use and design of sidewalk sheds throughout the city. Known as Intros. 393-A, 394-A, 391-A, 660-A, and 661-A, the measures seek to address long-standing issues with sidewalk scaffolding, including excessive permit durations, poor lighting, and design uniformity. These bills give the Department of Buildings (DOB) expanded authority to enforce repairs, enhance public safety, and encourage removal of sheds once work is completed, forming a critical part of the city’s broader “Get Sheds Down” initiative launched in July 2023.
Intro. 393-A reduces the standard duration of sidewalk shed permits from one year to three months and increases DOB oversight of permit renewals, while also introducing new penalties for delays in required repairs. Intro. 394-A updates façade inspection requirements for buildings over six stories, extending the inspection cycle from five years to up to 12 years. Intro. 391-A expands the design and aesthetic standards of sidewalk sheds, increasing the minimum height to 12 feet and broadening acceptable shed colors beyond hunter green to include white, metallic gray, or colors matching the adjacent building. It also promotes alternatives such as containment netting for certain properties.
Additional measures include Intro. 660-A, which mandates LED lighting with increased brightness under sheds to enhance pedestrian visibility and safety, and Intro. 661-A, which empowers DOB to issue penalties to owners of taller buildings that fail to meet specific milestones in their façade repair timelines. These new tools aim to reduce the time sheds remain in place and minimize disruptions to public streetscapes and businesses.
“The passage of these sidewalk shed regulations is a big win for Downtown Brooklyn and all of New York City,” said Regina Myer, president, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. “Far too often, sidewalk sheds are a blight on neighborhoods, impinging on public space, affecting the ability of our retail to do business, and ultimately impacting quality of life. These policies will address those challenges head-on, and we applaud the City Council for its leadership and commitment to making our public realm more vibrant and safe.”
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
Get rid of mandatory inspections every five years.
Why are they unnecessary?
While sidewalk sheds are not cheap, some owners found them less expensive than correcting the defects which necessitated them. This led to their being erected for years. If the building facade is less than half the height of the building from the sidewalk, the sheds are required.
I can’t think of any other city where these horrible monstrosities so commonly exist. I assumed it was just more corruption to pay some Jersey family off to rent the shed for years. Hopefully these new regulations will work, but as with everything in NYC, actual enforcement of the law is all that really matters. We’ll see…
There has been a sidewalk shed outside my building since 2013. Because of the floor I’m on, that is all I have seen when looking out my window for over a decade.
Bravo Mr. Mayor. The practical good laws will help you get re-elected.
Looking forward to my bldg’s scafolding to be removed, finally.
Sounds good, but…… why doesn’t this apply to NYC owned buildings? 277 Broadway — right across from City Hall — has had sidewalk scaffolding and netting up for the past FOUR YEARS. No work is being done on the exterior, the netting is falling apart and the upper levels of the wooden scaffolding are starting to fail. Who owns the building? You guessed it. Be nice if the administration practiced what they preached.
It’s about time. Let’s hope it is enforced.
I will believe it when I see it. For the past 5 days an other worldly monster scaffold has been going up on W 58th and 9th Ave. it defies belief. Did this monstrosity have to go up? How about freezing any new scaffolds until the final intervals between inspections are determined? And the right answer is a 12 year interval is far better than 8.
Next we need to put an end to unnecessary parapet removals. Totally ruins a building’s facade
My building had to replace its 1957 concrete block covered with brick parapet about 15 years ago and I notice others of the same age doing this. The new one has membrane and drainage holes and should last longer than the original. This was on an unornamented building. It is sad to see older buildings lose their parapets to a plain wall, especially those in Art Deco style.
It’s an architectural crime that for some reason only seems to happen in NYC
Our co-op has been under scaffolding for over 5 years even though the work has been completed for over 1 year. The delay is that the DOB takes MONTHS before coming to confirm compliance with repairs and authorize removal. Then when they do come, if they do NOT fully approve the work, the ENTIRE scaffold has to stay up until the hearings on the issue (many months later) and then the process of waiting and certification starts again. This is insanity. The scaffolding is covering sidewalks that are not even against the building. Falling bricks cannot fly 25 feet to the sidewalk even if they do fall down (never happened). Meantime, sitting on the grass under the building is perfectly accessible in the summer time. Why not just put a fence near where the work is done? Paris has buildings built in the 1600s and there is no scaffolding and there are not people dying from falling gargoyles. One person died 40 years ago in a freak accident and now the city is ruined due to this blight