Balconies, NYC Zoning, Help!

Good luck with that…
Frankly, once the building is up there’s not much you can do.

And even if you had started complaining while the building was under construction, you probably wouldn’t have had any luck.

I am the president of a co-op apartment building and there has been a lot of development on my block. I pored over the building codes and complained about all of them … and I didn’t even manage to slow them down. The rules you are quoting seem to only apply to the size and layout of the new balcony, not to its proximity to anything else. The setback rules are particularly confusing, there is a building next door to me that I could swear doesn’t meet the R6 zoning setback rules but I have been assured by real estate professionals that it does.

Also. a terrace and a balcony are not the same, if there’s no overhang the sizing rules are different. New construction impacts home values all the time in the city by blocking views…it’s something that buyers need to be aware of. for example, anyone looking at the layout of my building would realize that the north side view is just waiting to be obstructed, the building on the other side of the empty lot next door is designed so another building can go up next to it , there are no windows on its long south wall. I recommend the balcony dominance strategy.