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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
â– 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-. â– '
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
RECORD AND GUIDE: IS IX ITS FIFTIETH YEAR OF CONTINUOUS PUBLICATION.