Locals Urge City To Crackdown On Oversized Soho, Noho Shops

SOHO, NY — Elected officials and residents have long complained about oversized Soho and Noho shops that violate zoning laws prohibiting the massive retailers, and now that it is more than a year since the city issued violations to several sprawling stores, locals demand that the Department of Buildings keep the pressure on.

The neighborhoods are riddled with retailers that exceed the 10,000-square-foot limit for the area’s M1-5B zoning, advocates say. Shops are allowed to operate a more than 10,000-square-foot space if they have applied for a special permit that puts the application through an extensive review process and gives the community a chance to weigh in, according to the Department of Buildings.

Locals say the massive shops make bad neighbors with around the clock bright lights, noisy nighttime deliveries and promotions that draw crowds. Yet when the city deems a shop in violation of the manufacturing-based zoning, the stores pay a mere $800 fine and, in the case of two stores, have continued to operate in the oversized spaces.

"This is less than a slap on the wrist, it's not even a tap on the pinky," said Terri Cude, the chairwoman of Community Board 2, who lives in Noho. "We need more meaningful penalties. These are mostly large chains and they get a $800 fine and are allowed to continue business? That’s crazy."

In a letter to the building's department earlier this year, Assemblywoman Deborah Glick cited six retailers that were found in violation of the area's zoning — Zara, Uniqlo, Hollister, Best Buy, Topshop and American Eagle. Four of the violations were dismissed.

Some of the reasoning behind the dismissals is debatable, including one violation that was rejected because a buildings worker cited the wrong zoning district when inspecting the property. Another store side stepped the zoning by having an individual lease for each floor, Glick's letter explained.

"A number of the locations where the [Environmental Control Board] violation was dismissed by the Hearing Officer were decided based on technicalities which make the space legal in name only, however in practice these locations are still in violation," Glick's letter reads.

The violations issued against Broadway's Topshop and American Eagle are the only that stuck. Each retailer paid the $800 fine and continue to operate in their more than 10,000-square-foot spaces.

“[The Department of Buildings] is assessing whether large retail stores in the area are in complete compliance with the Zoning Resolution. This process is ongoing," said Andrew Rudansky, a spokesman with the building's department, who could not say how long the review process will last. "In addition, we are reviewing the proposals from Assembly Member Glick and Community Board 2.”

It is possible for retail spaces larger than 10,000 square feet to be legal without a special permit, but only if the stores within the space are not interconnected, if they each have a footprint smaller than 10,000 square feet and if they each have a separate entrance, according to the Department of Buildings.

The building agency found the retail stores along Broadway in compliance with the city's zoning law when the stores were first built, the building's department noted. But it is the city's review and enforcement system that continues to concern locals.

In Community Board 2's recent letter to the city, members called on the Department of Buildings to beef up fines — especially for repeated violations — and to revoke the privilege of self-certification when store applicants file false information.

The board's letter also charged building inspectors with inadequate training and called out attorneys with the city's Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings for what they feel is a lack of understanding of the city's zoning regulations.

“The review and enforcement system is broken," reads Community Board 2's recent letter. “Balance is needed here, along with solid and consistent enforcement of local zoning."

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