Determination of Acceptable Location of Chimney Outlet.
15 RCNY § 2-13
in effect§ 2-13 Determination of Acceptable Location of Chimney Outlet.
Several factors affect the location of the chimney outlet including the need to avoid a potential or actual nuisance. The following applicable requirements must be met.
(a) For all new installations (new building or new chimney):
(1) The chimney must extend above all construction such as roof ridge, parapet wall, penthouse, roof tank, elevator enclosure, etc., as follows:
(i) Chimneys must extend at least 3 feet above said construction located within 10 feet of the chimney outlet.
(2) The chimney outlet must not be located within the minimum radial distance specified in Table II.
(b) For existing installations:
(1) The chimney must extend at least as high as all construction such as roof ridge, parapet wall, penthouse, roof tank, elevator enclosure, etc., within 10 feet of the chimney outlet.
(2) The chimney outlet must not be located within the minimum radial distance specified in Table II. Such requirement must apply to receptors which are at a height equal to or greater than the chimney outlet.
For receptors located below the chimney outlet, the chimney outlet must not be located within the minimum radial distance specified in Table II.
In those instances where the above is applicable, the following statement must be provided as a plan note in place of the statement required in 15 RCNY § 2-04(c)(2)(iv) - (vi): "The minimum radial distance from the centerline of the existing chimney to an acceptable receptor location (a) located at a height equal to or greater than the chimney outlet is ________ ft. and (b) located below the chimney outlet is ________ ft.," with the distance specified.
(c) Whenever a building is erected, enlarged, or increased in height so that any receptor location in such building is within the minimum radial distance, as specified in Table II, of any previously constructed chimneys, the owner of such new or altered building must have the responsibility of altering such chimneys to make them conform with subdivision (a) of this section above. This must not apply to chimneys no longer connected to combustion equipment.
(d) 1) The criteria employed in determining stack heights and chimney outlet to receptor distance in this section must only apply to off-site receptors.
(2) Receptors, sources and geometry with the following features will be considered on-site and not subject to 15 RCNY § 2-13.
(i) A single boiler stack servicing a single building structure.
(ii) Contiguous construction (i.e., attached "row" houses).
(iii) Separate entrances with separate addresses all serviced by the same boiler room.
(3) This section will be applied to existing facilities to the maximum extent possible consistent with good engineering practices. Alternative and less costly options to altering the stack should be permitted if it can be shown that this will not cause degradation of boiler performance. Degradation of boiler performance would increase air pollutant emissions or inhibit compliance with boiler upgrading criteria.
(4) For new and existing chimneys, emission impacts upon sensitive receptors including, but not limited to, windows, doors that open, people, and building fresh air intakes must be minimized by employing good air pollution control engineering practices. Such practices include, without limitation:
(i) Avoiding locations that may be subject to downwash of the exhaust; and
(ii) Installing stacks of sufficient height in locations that will prevent and minimize flue gas impacts upon sensitive receptors.
(5) Since this chapter's tables were developed using assumed average meteorological conditions in New York City, situations being disputed may be resolved by the submission of individualized computations of pollutant concentration at the receptor using realistic and applicable factors in dispersion models recommended and approved by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The modeling must show that National Ambient Air Quality Standards will not be exceeded at any sensitive receptors, including openable windows and fresh air intakes. The tests, modeling, analysis and costs for these study(s) must be the responsibility of the applicant.
(Amended City Record 5/13/2016, eff. 6/12/2016)
Source: City of New York, Charter, Administrative Code and Rules (American Legal Publishing XML export, codelibrary.amlegal.com)URL: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCrules/0-0-0-24417Fetched: 10/24/2026