Owner of Illegal Springs Apartment Slapped With 29 Violations: Town

EAST HAMPTON, NY — The owner of an illegal basement apartment in Springs has been slapped with 29 violations, according to East Hampton Town officials.

According to a release from David Betts, East Hampton Town Director of Public Safety, the two-story, three-bedroom, two-bath ranch had been converted to a seven-bedroom, three-bath dwelling.

The East Hampton Town ordinance department wrapped up an investigation into the illegal
basement apartment, located in a house at 64 Woodbine Drive in Springs, Wednesday morning with the execution of a search warrant, the release said.

Along with East Hampton Town Police, members of the town's ordinance department conducted an
inspection at the house, and, as a result, charged the owner, Gerard Picco, 54, with 29 town and
New York State code violations, officials said.

Picco, who was present at the time of the inspection, lives with his family on the main floor of the house, while a second family lives in an illegal basement apartment, the release said.

Offenses included smoke detectors that had been taken down or were missing completely in bedrooms, the release said.

In addition, the lower-level apartment had a full kitchen and a full bathroom, walls, and plumbing, as well as
electrical outlets, all of which had been constructed and installed without any building permits or
inspections, as required by town code, officials said.

The ceiling height in the basement apartment was below the building code minimum of seven feet.

The lack of egress windows in the two bedrooms, the lack of smoke detectors and having alterations completed without inspections made the situation "extremely dangerous for the occupants," said Kelly Kampf, assistant town director of public safety, who was present for the inspection, according to the release.

East Hampton Town building code requires bedrooms to have egress, or emergency escape, windows to be a minimum of 5.7 square feet, "so that an easy escape would be possible in the event of a fire or other emergency," the release said.

Town code also requires that the windows be within 44 inches of the floor to facilitate a quick and unobstructed escape in an emergency, officials said.

In the basement apartment in question, the windows were 56 inches off the floor, "and their size was a mere 11 inches by 29 inches, falling woefully short of the required dimension. A bedroom where two young children slept had no windows at all," the release said.

“Illegal and unsafe basement occupancy creates the potential for tragic consequences for occupants
and overcrowds neighborhoods and must be strictly enforced,” Town Supervisor Larry
Cantwell said.

Picco was issued an appearance ticket to appear in East Hampton Town Justice Court on
January 16 at 12:30 p.m.

The investigation is continuing, and a referral will be made to the Suffolk County Office of Wastewater Management regarding the additional wastewater flow based on the increased number of bedrooms, officials said.
Mr. Picco was charged with the following violations, totaling 29 charges, the release said:

Basement area

Failure to update rental registry

Multi Family — two kitchens

Change of Use – Bedroom #1 in basement

Change of Use — Bedroom #2 in basement

Change of Use — Kitchen in basement

No building permit — basement

No certificate of occupancy — basement

No egress — bedroom #1

No egress — bedroom #2

No handrail — basement stair

Narrow egress stairs — basement

Exposed wires — bedroom #2

No smoke — bedroom #2

Ceiling height

Window height — floor to sill

No building permit — outside basement stairs

No CO — outside basement stairs

No building permit — basement bathroom

No CO — basement bathroom

No handrail outside basement entrance

No building permit — outside shower

No CO — outside shower

First floor

No smoke — bedroom #4 upstairs

No Smoke — bedroom # 5 upstairs

No carbon — upstairs

Change of use — family room to living space

Change of use — garage to living space

No building permit — garage to bedroom

No CO — garage to bedroom

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