How can I get a curb cut (driveway) on my property in Brooklyn?

213769 — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:51:00 GMT

How can I get a curb cut (driveway) on my property in Brooklyn?

Brooklyn is an island in and of itself and different than any other city in the world. As an example, we have alternate side of the street parking where-as in most other cities in the United States they do not even know what that is! Based on this and the general difficulties in finding a parking space in some Brooklyn neighborhoods, having a private driveway and/or off street parking becomes a huge commodity. Based on this fact, many Brooklyn homeowners who do not have off street parking decide they would like to create a driveway for off street parking on their property. Often times homeowners will do this in an illegal fashion (either intentionally or by accident) which creates big issues. If not done in a legal fashion you can face Environmental Control Board violations, court appearances, fines and civil penalties. You would then have to legalize and/or correct those violations.

In order to install a private driveway on your property, the first thing you need to do is get a curb cut. A curb cut is a dip in the sidewalk and curb that enables a vehicle to drive to a driveway, garage, parking lot, loading dock or drive-through. To get the curb cut you have to go through a legal process. This involves completing a work permit application and submitting documents to the Department of Transportation's borough office, obtaining approval, filing for construction permits, completing the work and then closing the curb cut process. That is how you do it legally so you do not have a problem.

The thing is that in order to do that in the first place, your property must meet specific criteria. If your property does not meet the specific criteria, then it may be impossible to do it in a legal fashion. As an example, the parking space has to be at least 8.5 feet x 18 feet and the location has to be in a side, front or rear yard within your building lines and may not encroach the sidewalk. In addition to that there are minimum distance requirements from sidewalk obstructions such as trees (7 feet), hydrants (7 feet), light poles (7 feet), street signs (7 feet), utility poles (7 feet), phone booths (7 feet, do they still exist?) and others.

You can find more information on the specific criteria you need to meet via this link on the NYC.gov web site:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/downloads/pdf/curbcuts.pdf

If you decide to go through the process, you can fill out the application yourself... but it may be worth the extra expense to have a New York State licensed professional engineer (PE) or registered architect (RA) help you out.

You can also find a copy of the actual application on the NYC.gov web site via the following link:

http://www.nyc.gov/apps/311/allServices.htm?requestType=listService&filterServ=License+-+Permit+-+Certificate&serviceName=Curb+Cut+Permit&intentId=87D0A2FC-8138-11DE-8E9F-96DAE110FEB8

If you currently do not have a curb cut, adding one to your property in a legal fashion will theoretically increase the value of your property anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 or more depending on where in Brooklyn you are located!

I hope you found this information useful, if you did or if have further Brooklyn real estate related questions please post a comment to this blog or contact me.

Sincerely,
Mitchell S. Feldman
Associate Broker/ Director of Sales
Madison Estates & Properties, Inc.
Office: (718) 645-1665/ Cell: (917) 805-0783
Email: MitchellSFeldman@aol.com
Web Site: www.MitchellFeldman.com and www.MadisonEstates.com

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How can I get a curb cut (driveway) on my property in Brooklyn?