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Seven months after Bayside changed its zoning laws, some builders are still constructing whatever homes they want.
In the same neighborhood where the highly acclaimed R2A zoning law went into effect this past spring, the city’s Department of Buildings is currently allowing a home to be built against the new regulations.

By law, the one-family house located at 36-37 Corporal Kennedy St. should be abiding by the current regulations that, because of its rectangular shape, should only be allowed to reach a maximum height of 21 feet.

A stop work order was issued Oct. 17 for not abiding by site plans. However, just two days later, it was lifted and work resumed.

On Wednesday and for the second time in a month, a complaint was filed for the same reason.

Under current law, the house would be permitted to reach 35 feet, but only at the highest peak of a triangular façade. The house on Corporal Kennedy has no point at its center. Instead, it is evenly two stories high at the front, but then a third floor was added, towering above all other houses on the block and sloping downwards to the back. Like the first and second floors, the third story is also even across the top.

A construction crew was seen on scaffolding Tuesday conducting work outside of the home’s second floor and no work permit was visible to the naked eye.

A permit was later found behind a wooden board attached to a glass door. It read that work was permitted to extend both the cellar and first floor. On the DOB Web site, it reads that in June, work was permitted to enlarge the second story, but there is no mention of a third floor.
The owner could not be reached by the contact information on the permit.

Paul Graziano, the author of the R2A designation, said Wednesday it appears that inspectors are still not familiar with the new law and that could be the reason why the project is being allowed.

“This is not the first time the DOB has not been willing or able to enforce the R2A process,” said Graziano. “They need to take a refresher course.”

According to DOB spokeswoman Jennifer Givner, a licensed expeditor reviewed the property after the stop work order was issued and found that it complied with the zoning regulations.

Now, she added, “We are in the process of an audit to determine if it complies.”