Curb Cut Battle Continues in Dyker Heights

In Dyker Heights, a neighborhood better known for its uber-festive Christmas decorations, tensions continue to rise about an issue that affects many of the city’s residential enclaves. The trouble started when a homeowner on a block of attached 1905 rowhouses, Gus Englezos, got permission from the Department of Buildings last July and again this January to construct a parking space and curb cut (the cut in the line of the curb that slopes down to provide a way for a vehicle to enter the driveway) on what was his front lawn.

Other residents on the block of 70th Street between Fort Hamilton Parkway and 8th Avenue began to object as Englezos (legally) demolished his front porch and made preparations to construct the driveway and curb cut. They feel that the creation of parking spaces in front of the houses, which don’t have rear garages/parking, would both diminish the looks and integrity of the block as well as take away a valuable on-street parking space with the creation of the curb cut.
Residents and the local community came out to oppose the the granting of the DOB permits, and have now filed an appeal to the Board of Standards & Appeals to overturn another approval for the cut that was granted by the Department of City Planning.

The city contends that creating parking spaces and the resulting curb cuts are allowed within a strip along the side of a property called a side lot ribbon–see image at left. In this case, the city has determined that even though the house (which is in the middle of the block) does not have a “side,” the creation of the parking strip from the front of the house to the street line is permitted under the ribbon provision. The peeved neighbors feel that the creation of driveways should only apply to detached houses, where cars can pull to the rear of the property. In the meantime, the owner says he has lost over $60,000 in delays and in fighting to keep his permits. Stay tuned.