Buildings with outstanding SWARMP items must file as Unsafe for the 7th Cycle.
February is right around the corner, and in addition to Groundhog's Day, Valentine's Day, President's Day, and this year, Leap Day, add one more date to the calendar: February 21. That's the day of the first filing deadline for the 7th Cycle of Local Law 11/98 (now known as the Facade Inspection and Safety Program, or FISP).
New York City buildings taller than six stories with block numbers ending in 4, 5, 6, or 9, are required to file their facade inspection reports with the Department of Buildings by this first deadline. If your building's block numbers ends in 0, 7, or 8 the deadline is August 21, 2012. The FISP filing deadline for buildings with block numbers ending in 1, 2, or 3, is February 21, 2013.
Now that the first deadline is drawing near, many of our clients are calling to ask us about last-minute filing. A common question: "What do we do if our building has outstanding SWARMP items (Safe With a Repair and Maintenance Program) from a previous cycle?"
Quick answer: You will have to file as Unsafe and then have an engineer or architect design a repair program. If your building's filing deadline is in August or next February, you have more breathing room to fix those SWARMP items, but it's still prudent to start planning those steps now.
To help building owners and managers prepare for filing their 7th Cycle facade inspection reports, Rand is conducting a free seminar on Wednesday, February 8 at 6:30 PM at Rand's office at 159 West 25th Street in Manhattan. In the seminar, Rand's President Stephen Varone will discuss the steps you need to take if your building has to file an Unsafe report, how to schedule a SWARMP repair program, and the latest regulations governing site safety requirements.
To sign up for the seminar, please contact me, Joanna Kuther, at 212-675-8844, ext. 212; jkuther@nullrandpc.com. The seminar will run about an hour a half, including questions and answers. We start serving wine and hors d'oeuvres at 6:00, so come early to mingle and enjoy the fare. We hope to see you there!
