The Board consists of five commissioners, including a Chair and a Vice-Chair. The City Charter also requires the commissioners to be experienced experts in the field: there must be a registered architect, a licensed professional engineer, and a professional city planner, each with at least ten years of experience. No more than two commissioners can live in the same borough of NYC.
The Board's expertise is recognized by the courts which apply deference to the Board's decisions. As stated by the New York State Court of Appeals in the seminal case Toys R Us v. Silva, the Board "is comprised of five experts in land use and planning [and] is the ultimate administrative authority charged with enforcing the Zoning Resolution. Consequently, in questions relating to its expertise, the BSA's interpretation of the statute's terms must be given great weight and judicial deference." 89 N.Y.2d 411, 418 (1996).
Shampa Chanda, was appointed to the Board of Standards and Appeals as a Commissioner in 2015 and Vice Chair in 2017. She has more than 30 years of experience as a city planner and extensive knowledge in the field of land use, zoning, urban design, affordable housing, public policies and transportation planning, all of which were spent working in various capacities at New York City agencies including Department of City Planning and Housing Preservation and Development.
Shampa started her service to the City of New York at the Department of City Planning as an intern in 1988. From there onwards she held different positions in the agency working on a range of projects from transportation to land use planning. The scale of the projects ranged from large-scale developments to neighborhood based rezonings to citywide zoning texts. There she gained an in-depth experience and understanding of land use process and policies that guide and affect development in the City.
At the Department of Housing Preservation and Development she has held a variety of roles, including as an assistant commissioner of Planning and Environmental and Architecture where she helped steer development projects through land use process by working with city agencies in identifying potential development sites and maximizing affordable housing opportunities through zoning tools. Also, she led her team of architects and in collaboration with affordable housing providers, to develop design guidelines for affordable housing including supportive housing.
Shampa holds a Masters degree in City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelors degree in Architecture from the City College of New York. She was also a member of her local community Board in Queens -Community Board No. 2.
Salvatore Scibetta is a first-generation New Yorker from Brooklyn, shaped by a strong commitment to community and service. He attended Xavier High School and earned his undergraduate degree from Fordham College at Lincoln Center. Early on, he became deeply engaged in community service, driven by a desire to address the challenges facing underserved New Yorkers. That commitment led him to pursue a career in law—an avenue through which he could more effectively advocate for those in need.
Mr. Scibetta received his Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School in 2006. Since then, he has built a respected legal career representing clients in a wide range of matters across all five boroughs and throughout New York State. While well-versed in multiple areas of law, he has developed particular expertise in real estate, earning recognition for his legal insight, integrity, and client-focused approach.
In 2018, Mr. Scibetta transitioned from private practice—having served as a partner at Lee Anav Chung White Kim Ruger & Richter LLP—to public service, accepting an appointment to the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) as a commissioner. In this role, he works to ensure that urban development is responsible and aligns with community needs. He considers this position both an honor and a vital opportunity to serve the city he calls home.
Since 2018, Mr. Scibetta has leveraged nearly 20 years of legal experience in his role at the BSA. He is widely regarded as an authority in real property law, having successfully litigated complex cases throughout New York State.
In addition to his public service, Mr. Scibetta is a dedicated leader in the legal community. He is a past president of the Columbia Lawyers Association of Brooklyn and an active member of several professional organizations, including the New York City Bar Association, Brooklyn Bar Association, and Richmond County Bar Association. His civic contributions extend beyond the legal field, with board service at institutions such as the Staten Island Children’s Museum, Historic Richmond Town, and On Your Mark, Inc., underscoring his deep commitment to public life
Dara Ottley-Brown is a government professional and real estate expert with more than 30 years of diverse public sector experience and increasing management responsibility across the spectrum of real estate development from data collection to valuation to land use, development and zoning. Originally appointed to the Board of Standards and Appeals in 2006, serving 18 years with distinction lending financial expertise to the deliberation of variance cases and appeals cases. Prior to that, at the Department of Finance, she accumulated almost 20 years of experience is in property tax administration including collection and maintaining and updating land and mortgage records. Advanced managerial skills including management analysis, problem solving, and leadership of a division of approximately 200 employees, cultivated in a challenging union dominated labor environment during a period of reorganization and transformation. Significant strength as a polished leader who can deliver presentations to legislative and government bodies as well as interpret and translate policies, regulations, and laws.
Ottley-Brown is a graduate of Hunter College 1984 Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology.
Dr. Sheta has more than 30 years of experience in civil, structural and geotechnical engineering including construction industry, teaching and research. Dr. Sheta's professional experience in construction industry varied in areas of soil-structure interaction analysis, structural and geotechnical field inspections, geotechnical investigation and lab and field testing, geotechnical risk assessment, foundation design, design of underground structures, earth retaining structures, groundwater control and structural analysis, design and repair of reinforced concrete and structural steel. Dr. Sheta has also conducted research in various areas including geotechnical, structural and geo-structural engineering, concrete fire resistance, numerical analysis and material modeling and artificial intelligence (AI) applications in civil engineering.
Chris Yoon, R.A. was appointed as a Commissioner on the Board in 2022. She brings a wide range of experience in architectural design and development, specializing in affordable housing, urbanism, and multi-family and mixed-use developments. Prior to her appointment to the BSA, she was an Associate at the New York office of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). While at OMA, she has overseen the New York office's first two affordable housing projects and has also worked on an array of high-rise, mixed-use, adaptive re-use, and commercial projects in North America.
Prior to OMA, Yoon focused on the design and development of multi-family affordable housing projects in New York City, serving as a project architect at Curtis + Ginsberg Architects LLP and as a real estate development professional with Dunn Development Corp LLP.
Yoon holds a B.S. in architectural engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and is a registered architect in New York State.
The BSA staff is led by the Executive Director and includes project management, environmental review, archival, administrative, and legal staff who assist the Board in carrying out its mission. See below for members of the BSA staff leadership team.