[NYguy]

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories...0-bk_37_2.html

Bay Watch: Contractor for Brooklyn’s soon-to-be-tallest building caught apparently stealing city water





By Matt Perlman
December 31, 2013

Brooklyn’s soon-to-be tallest building has apparently been stealing city water.

The construction crew for the Downtown tower Avalon Willoughby West, which is slated to become the borough’s tallest building in 2015, has been siphoning water from a fire hydrant since at least last week. The city sells $55 permits for builders to take hydrant water legally, but an official said developer Avalon Bay had no such pass.

"We do not have a record of a permit for using the fire hydrant at this location,” a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection said.

The site at Willoughby and Duffield streets is just a hole in the ground now, but a 57-story, 596-foot residential building is slated to rise there by 2015, beating out the nearby Brooklyner and also-under-construction neighbor 388 Bridge Street for the title of loftiest tower.

In addition to getting the environmental protection department’s slip, builders are required by the fire department to keep hydrants accessible during construction with a hand-operated shut-off valve and a secondary hose connection that firefighters can tap into in an emergency. The Avalon Willoughby West contractor set-up has the required nozzles, but on Monday, the hose was leaking a steady stream of water into the gutter, leaving the pedestrian path, a temporary sidewalk diversion for the construction, wet and muddy.

The city sent inspectors to the site on Monday afternoon, but by the time they arrived, work had ceased for the day and the contraption was gone.

The fine for failing to file for a hydrant permit starts at $750. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment by phone and e-mail.