Section 20-910
§20-910 Air conditioning prohibitions. a. For the purposes of this
section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
1. "Chain of stores" shall mean five or more stores located within the
city of New York that are engaged in the same general field of business
and conduct business under the same business name or operate under
common ownership or management or pursuant to a franchise agreement with
the same franchisor.
2. "Commercial building or structure" shall mean an building or
structure classified in accordance with section BC 302 of the New York
city building code in occupancy group B or M, except that such term
shall not include a small store.
3. "Door" shall mean any door used to close off any exterior entrance
to a commercial building or structure and that when open allows for the
co-mingling of indoor and outdoor air, but shall not include doors that
(i) adjoin indoor seating areas where food or beverages are served and
link such areas to outdoor space or outdoor seating areas, or (ii) allow
for direct table service of food or beverages to outdoor seating areas
during times when servers are actively engaged in serving such areas.
4. "Person" shall mean (i) with respect to the portion of a commercial
building or structure that is a retail or wholesale establishment that
sells goods or provides services to consumers, the owner or lessee of
such establishment; and (ii) with respect to any other portion of a
commercial building or structure, the record owner or lessee of such
building or structure.
5. "Small store" shall mean a retail or wholesale establishment that
sells goods or provides services to consumers and occupies under four
thousand square feet of retail or wholesale space, excluding storage
space, and is not one of a chain of stores.
b. Except as provided in subdivision c of this section, it shall be
unlawful to keep open any exterior door of a commercial building or
structure while an air conditioner or central cooling system is
operating that cools the area adjacent to such door, except as needed to
permit the ingress and egress of people and the delivery and shipping of
goods.
c. The provisions of this section shall not apply when an emergency
situation exists that requires an exterior door to be kept open.
d. The department shall have the authority to enforce the provisions
of subdivision b of this section. A proceeding to recover any civil
penalty prescribed by subdivision e of this section shall be commenced
by the service of a notice of violation, which shall be returnable to
the environmental control board. The environmental control board shall
have the power to impose any civil penalty prescribed by subdivision e
of this section.
e. Any person who violates this section shall receive a written
warning for the first violation, and shall be liable for a civil penalty
in the amount of two hundred dollars for each open door for a second
violation within an eighteen month period and four hundred dollars for
each open door for any third and subsequent violation within an eighteen
month period.
To the extent possible under law, Friends of Devin Balkind for Public Advocate has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to New York City Administrative Code. This work is published from: United States.
Special thanks to Benjarmin Kallos and Thom Neale who made this content publicly available as a bulk download.