The Department of Buildings Tuesday released its final version of proposed rule changes about how the public can challenge its building permits on the basis that they might be violating zoning.

The new rules take effect July 13, 2009.

When first announced, the public was permitted 30 days to challenge the permits, but that time limit has now been extended to 45 days, one of the recommendations made by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

According to Andrew Berman, the society's executive director, "the bad news, however, is that DOB did not address the myriad other issues we (and many others) raised about how the rule could actually shield inappropriate developments from challenge rather than help ensure that they are caught, as DOB claims the rule change will do."

"We fear that in many more cases," Mr. Berman continued, "this may force members of the public to file a BSA case if they want to challenge the granting of a permit, as opposed to being able to bring it to DOB. But BSA cases are extremely expensive and time-consuming to file, and not every member of the public or even every community group is in a position to be able to file them. And too often BSA cases are not settled until after a building is largely or even entirely completed, making their effectiveness in many cases questionable at best."

Mr. Berman added that "As a group which has frequently challenged DOB's granting of permits and have often found that such permits were issued erroneously, we are concerned that this new rule will make it more difficult to ensure that bad projects which violate zoning rules do not move forward in our neighborhood."

On March 6, 2009, Mr. Berman testified that "the proposed requirement that zoning diagrams be made available on-line is a helpful and long-overdue step in the right direction." But he questioned whether the department "has the authority to make a rule such as this, which would impose a deadline for the consideration of legitimate challenges to DOB permitting decisions, and seemingly absolve the Department of the obligation to revoke such a permit even if it was issued in error or violates the law."

"A second basic flaw," his testimony continued, "in the proposed process is that anyone who does not regularly monitor the Department of Buildings website is essentially excluded from the process, and their opportunity to potentially challenge an inappropriately approved permit is thus eliminated. Without regular monitoring of the DOB website, there is no reason to believe that a member of the public would even be aware that a permit has been applied for, much less approved, before the 30-day challenge period ends."

Members of the public can view "zoning diagrams" of granted or amended building plans by going to the department's website (www.nyc.gov/buildings) and clicking on "My Community" and searching for "new buildings" or "major alterations" by "Community Board" or "specific address." Documents can then be viewed by clicking on "granted" or "amended" at the building's address. Click on the "challenge period status" link will reveal whether the challenge period is still open and challenges may be submitted by using the "zoning challenge and appeal form."