Buildings Department Charges Brooklyn Architect

One of the city's most prominent architects is facing administrative charges from the Department of Buildings for allegedly falsifying documents.

Robert Scarano, who runs a Brooklyn-based firm that has designed many of the city's newest buildings, was cited for bucking zoning laws just months after it was reported that the former buildings commissioner, Patricia Lancaster, was allegedly shielding him from being investigated by city regulatory agencies.

The charges come as the department steps up a new effort to inspect construction sites and enforce zoning rules.

Mr. Scarano was charged with improperly dividing a lot in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn to build two new buildings at 158 Freeman St. and at 1037 Manhattan Ave. and allegedly filing "false or misleading documents" with the buildings department in 2000 and 2002.

A lawyer for Mr. Scarano, Raymond Mellon, said he would fight the charges.

"It seems a little bit ridiculous with cranes falling down around the city, and people getting killed, that the buildings department finds it important to go back to this," Mr. Mellon said.

Critics of Mr. Scarano's building practices have previously called for his state license to be revoked completely.