Removing a Dangerous Sidewalk Stone/ East Village

I would be more worried about you adding "a few extra storeys" on top of your home, rather than a random slippery stone.

about *your* adding

your first step should be to hire an architect and discuss the scope of your project. Fixing the sidewalk is just one aspect of the work, and a pretty minor one in the grand scheme of your project. Honestly, I don't even understand why you are bothering about a potential slab of granite in your hypothetical development. If you had a list of 200 tasks to get your project to completion, this would be in the 190's.

someone fishing for a law suit trying to find out if they fall infront on the sidewalk who to sue

concur with maly. pboa on the stone. what about the hypothetical 100+ year old tree outside the casa about to get ripped out of it's roots with these 50+ mps winds today? fret over it all or get it done.

i have to ask as just re-read your post - you aren't an American are you?

hit send too soon - writing sounds like either a Brit or Canadian.

i think that sidewalk work will need a dept of building permit, and maybe one from the dept of transport. talk to a design professional and a code consultant.

Removing cobblestones for "safety"... what a nanny-state world we live in. Unbelievable.

We're fortunate to have an exceptionally talented architect (she also happens to be my sister) who has already drawn up plans for a beautiful and innovative structure. However, she does not live in New York so I'm trying to head off any difficulties. We haven't dealt with city administrators before and just wanted to suss out if this would be a lengthy and costly process.

And cobblestones can be quaint, but when they're half-covered in tar and uneven they're unsightly and terrible on one's feet and baby carriages.

Also lest you people forget, New York IS a city of immigrants.

This is not at all meant to be snide -- however, I strongly suggest you get an architect and engineer from NYC. If you and/or your architect have never built here or dealt with the City, you may be in for a rude awakening. If you insist on doing it otherwise, you will need to hire a consultant to expedite you through the permitting process.

It's hard to understand how you could have plans already drawn up if you haven't yet decided on or bought the building site. You can't assume that the zoning will be the same on each street or site. Also, the Dept of Buildings is rarely keen on "innovative", particularly for residential projects. The codes are pretty specific about what you can build, especially when adding floors to an existing building. A good resource for information, besides DOB, is the community board.

Builidng in NYC can be a nightmare in the best of situations. Make sure you allow twice as much time and at least half again as much money as you estimate you will need.

As for your original question: you may find that you won't be allowed to remove that paving stone even if you want to. Good luck and welcome to New York.

Oh, wow, yeah, your building will sure be "historic" once you get finished with your tasteless, invasive out-of-towner attitudes. Why don't you just stay in Des Moines or wherever the hell you live and don't bother coming here to infest the East Village? We don't want you.

I just added your potential location, sister-architect and out-of-town vibe, mixed in entrenched tenants and I had to smile. You clearly have no idea what you are getting into. If you like your sister's esthetics, great, but you need to work with an experienced, local team. New York has layers upon layers of "only in New York" rules and regulations. You could easily get yourself into hot water that would cost you years and/or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Have the city do it for you: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/faqs/sidewalkfaqs.shtml

But make sure it's not in a landmark district first.