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    Policy and Procedure Regarding Fire Protection Plans and TCO/Final CO

    pisani

    The process for receiving a first 90 day Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO) has just gotten harder. Historically, the DOB would issue the first 90 day TCO as long as a Fire Protection Plan was filed with the DOB, a filing number was issued, and a set of plans was submitted to the FDNY.

    This is no longer the case. As per the recent DOB Advisory Meeting, the DOB will now require that the Fire Protection Plan be approved by the FDNY.

    The real challenge here is that the FDNY still has quite a backlog on turning around these filings. Therefore, it would be prudent to file this part of the job at the beginning of the project, rather than at the 11th hour.

    One concern of this new procedure deals with a requirement for filing a Fire Safety Plan in conjunction with a Fire Protection Plan. This is simply not achievable in all scenarios. For example, in a vacant building without tenants, it’s impossible to create the complete Fire Safety Plan.

    Hopefully the DOB and FDNY will consider the Catch-22 here, and come up with an alternative that does not add time to the issuance of a TCO.

    Posted By Andrew J. Pisani

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