Stop Work Order issued at Pacific and Vanderbilt site

Another Stop Work Order has been imposed on part of Forest City Ratner's planned Atlantic Yards site, this time at the northwest corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and Pacific Street, formerly the site of a gas station. (A previous order was imposed on the Ward Bakery site, then lifted.) Workers have apparently been drilling in the soil but lacked approved plans, a Department of Transportation permit, and a listing of a general contractor, according to the violation.

The Department of Buildings (DOB) web site indicates that the site was inspected on Thursday and the order issued Friday. I learned about this Sunday evening and was unable to get a comment from the DOB yesterday. [Update Sept. 5: the order was rescinded sometime yesterday, after an inspection one day after the initial violation.]

Below is a view of the site, with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard extending west, and the towers of the Bank of New York (over the Atlantic Terminal mall) and the Williamsburgh Savings bank in the background.

The citation

The DOB web site states:
Category Code: 73 FAILURE TO MAINTAIN
Last Inspection: 08/30/2007 - - BY BADGE # 1995 KRIKORIAN PHILIP QUEENS
Disposition: 08/31/2007 - - A3 - STOP WORK ORDER VIOLATION ISSUED
Disposition Entered By: FAN 08/31/2007 11:56:22
Comments: NO APPROVED PLANS, NO DOT PERMIT POSTED, NO GENERAL CONTRACTORS PROVIDED
DOB Violation #: 083007KOST00100I

Under the DOB's complaint categories, Failure to Maintain, 73 is Category C, among a range from A to D, with A being most urgent. It's unclear whether the violation can be remedied by posting plans and permits, or whether a fine would be levied.

Slow weekend?

Also, a panel of plywood fence guarding the Ward Bakery had been pried off as of yesterday morning (right). Given the holiday weekend and the absence of construction crews, it was not immediately attended to.

The only action regarding the Atlantic Yards footprint, when I walked around in the morning, were two reporters and two photographers wandering about, encountering each other, and the regular drive-by performed by CopStat Security, which keeps tabs on the site for Forest City Ratner.

The Atlantic Yards Community Liaison Office was closed, given that it wasn't a workday. And the Atlantic Yards ombudsperson promised by the Empire State Development Corporation is not yet on the job, but expected soon.