NEW YORK — Sidewalk sheds, the widely reviled construction safety structures blighting public space in NYC, can only stay up for three months at a time under a package of bills passed by the City Council on Wednesday aimed at changing the look of the city.

Under current permit rules, sheds, typically erected for building facade repairs, can be up for a full year with the possibility of extensions, a timeline that often results in the bulky structures blocking sidewalks for lengthy periods. According to city data, there are more than 8,500 active sidewalk sheds across the five boroughs, most of them in Manhattan.

The new bills, passed by the Council in a unanimous vote, aim to curb the prevalence of the sheds, which many lawmakers, business owners and others say hamper pedestrian flow and local commerce.

Most significantly, the new bills would make it so the consecutive standard time a shed can stay up is just three months, unless the structure’s connected to demolition, building alterations or new construction, in which cases they can remain in place for longer.

If a shed is up for longer than three months without requisite permits, though, buildings owners can be hit with monthly $6,000 fines under a new penalty structure also baked into the bills.

“These are all really important design changes for the city of New York that will mean that we will meet our safety needs while also looking like every other city that does not have a skyline filled with sheds and scaffolding,” the legislative package’s main sponsor, Manhattan Councilman Keith Powers, said at a press conference before the vote. “We are just significantly proud of the work we’ve done here to make sure we can find that right balance.”

The Council’s new measures also include a rule that would require building owners to provide proof of work done or documentation to justify any delays in the event they need to renew shed permits.

Additionally, the legislative package features some new rules about how the structures themselves should and could look when they need to go up.

That includes a rule requiring the minimum height of a sidewalk shed to be 12 feet, up from the current eight. Another provision would allow for sheds to be other colors besides the ubiquitous hunter green.

Mayor Eric Adams will sign the bills at a later date, his office said, ensuring their enactment into law.

“These revitalized rules will help the New York City Department of Buildings remove unsightly scaffolding and ensure that sidewalk sheds are safer, more secure, and more visually appealing when they go up for a limited amount of time,” the mayor said in a statement issued by his office. “Above all, they will allow us to reclaim valuable space for the public and let the light back onto our sidewalks.”

Adams’ administration launched an initiative dubbed “Get Sheds Down” in 2023 with the hopes of curbing the structures. At the time, there were about 9,000 active sheds citywide.

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