By Charles Hack
Local homeowners tried to convince members of the Manhattan Beach Community Group to back them with requests to the Buildings Department to lift stop-work orders on illegal construction work on their houses. “Families are changing. What we once thought was accommodating no longer is,” said Sabrina Zak, one of the homeowners whose work has been stopped, and has lived in Manhattan Beach since 1987. “This is the only place that I wanted to raise my children.” Zak was talking to the Manhattan Beach Community Group at P.S. 195 at 131 Irwin St. on Jan 18. The Buildings Department had cited 26 homes back in April because the owners had built beyond what zoning regulations allowed and violated other buildings regulations. Problems ranged from windows not being in the right place to whole buildings exceeding zoning parameters. Members of the Manhattan Beach Community Group had complained to the Department of Buildings. Many of those cited have since corrected the violations, and stop-work orders were lifted. The remainder was left in limbo until the owners either corrected the violations or successfully appealed them to the Board of Standards and Appeals. The building owners said that they wanted to work with other residents in the neighborhood to resolve the issues. “How can we make this better?” Zak said. “We have to unite to solve these problems. It is a community problem, not only a personal problem.” Other residents who had their work stalled said that the building sites, frozen in various states of construction, would blight the neighborhood. It was better to finish the work that was already started, they said. “We are not looking for a fight. This is not getting resolved,” said Aurthur Gersheeld, a longtime Manhattan Beach resident who was speaking on behalf of the homeowners with building violations on their houses. “Manhattan Beach will forever be a construction zone.” But some residents were unmoved. The community group parks committee chair, Emmanuel Kahn, said that the construction fences were preferable to allowing buildings that violated codes. “I don’t mind fences as long these buildings come down,” Kahn said. Others said that everyone should be held to the same standards, as regulated by the NYC Department of Buildings. “I followed the rules. The homeowners who didn’t build responsibly and been inconsiderate while their neighbors haven’t,” said one resident. “If they came in thinking they didn’t have to follow the same rules as the rest of us, they shouldn’t be allowed to finish.” City Councilmember Mike Nelson’s office helped facilitate the original DOB audit, saying that his office was sensitive to the changing needs of residents who want to extend their homes, but saying development had to be “in accordance with the law.” Most of the new construction going on in Manhattan Beach is happening around Beaumont and Dover streets. DOB inspectors are keeping track of the projects. Manhattan Beach Community Group and Community Board 15 member Dr. Oliver Klapper was more prepared to negotiate, saying that consideration should be given to the changing needs of the families as they grew. He recommended a special committee so that the two sides can talk about their differences. “It’s better to have the community working together than to have homeowners working alone,” Klapper said.
