N.Y. Multiple Dwelling Law § 275: Legislative findings

§ 275. Legislative findings. It is hereby declared and found that in

cities with a population in excess of one million, large numbers of

loft, manufacturing, commercial, institutional, public and community

facility buildings have lost, and continue to lose, their tenants to

more modern premises; and that the untenanted portions of such buildings

constitute a potential housing stock within such cities which is

capable, when appropriately altered, of accommodating general

residential use, thereby contributing to an alleviation of the housing

shortage most severely affecting moderate and middle income families,

and of accommodating joint living-work quarters for artists by making

readily available space which is physically and economically suitable

for use by persons regularly engaged in the arts.

There is a public purpose to be served by making accommodations

readily available for joint living-work quarters for artists for the

following reasons: persons regularly engaged in the arts require larger

amounts of space for the pursuit of their artistic endeavors and for the

storage of the materials therefor and of the products thereof than are

regularly to be found in dwellings subject to this article; that the

financial remunerations to be obtained from pursuit of a career in the

arts are generally small; that as a result of such limited financial

remuneration persons regularly engaged in the arts generally find it

financially impossible to maintain quarters for the pursuit of their

artistic endeavors separate and apart from their places of residence;

that the cultural life of cities of more than one million persons within

this state and of the state as a whole is enhanced by the residence in

such cities of large numbers of persons regularly engaged in the arts;

that the high cost of land within such cities makes it particularly

difficult for persons regularly engaged in the arts to obtain the use of

the amounts of space required for their work as aforesaid; and that the

residential use of the space is secondary or accessory to the primary

use as a place of work.

It is further declared that the legislation governing the alteration

of such buildings to accommodate general residential use must of

necessity be more restrictive than statutes heretofore in effect, which

affected only joint living-work quarters for artists.

It is the intention of this legislation to promulgate statewide

minimum standards for all alterations of non-residential buildings to

residential use, but the legislature is cognizant that the use of such

buildings for residential purposes must be consistent with local zoning

ordinances. The legislature further recognizes that it is the role of

localities to adopt regulations which will define in further detail the

manner in which alterations should be carried out where building types

and conditions are peculiar to their local environment.