Rockland Codes Office Working With Unsafe Apartment Building Owner

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — Rockland's Office of Buildings and Codes, in temporary charge of Spring Valley's troubled enforcement operation, is holding off on evicting tenants from an unsafe apartment building on Ridge Avenue, The Journal News reports.

The county declared the building unsafe in mid-May, issued 27 citations to the property's owners and managers, and gave them just 15 days to make repairs or demolish the building, which has about 40 tenants. The problems, TJN reported, included sagging floors, inadequate fire escapes, broken fire-protection doors, cracked walls, stairs, and masonry, electrical hazards and a lack of smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.

However, the owners, Abraham and Sarah Mandlovic of Spring Valley, have begun to make repairs including installing carbon monoxide and smoke detectors and hiring one firm to deal with structural issues and another to repair the fire escapes. Because of that demonstration of good faith, the county is working on a consent agreement to get all the necessary repairs done in an organized and timely fashion, Building and Codes Director Ed Markunas told reporter Steve Lieberman.

Read the entire article on lohud.com.

Rockland launched its temporary Office of Buildings and Codes Feb. 14, three months after the New York State Department basically deputized the county to handle code inspections and enforcement for Spring Valley.

The state order, the first of its kind in New York, came a day after the head of the village's building department and one of its inspectors were indicted in the investigation into the 2021 fatal fire at the Evergreen Court Home for Adults. The converted 1903 hotel was destroyed in a massive blaze in 2021 that killed firefighter Jared Lloyd and 79-year-old resident Oliver Hueston and injured about a dozen people. More than 100 people had to be saved. Lloyd, 35, was rescuing residents. He sent out a Mayday call from an upper floor before it collapsed, but he could not be reached.

The village has long been known for its lack of oversight and enforcement of building and safety codes. A state monitor was actually in place at the time of the fire and the village had been required to file reports with the state on code inspections and compliance actions. SEE: Village Hall Raided In Investigation Of Fatal Fire.

Since its inception, the OBC has done about 450 inspections and found over 900 violations, county spokesperson Beth Cefalu told Patch.

Its main office is on the 2nd Floor of Building A in the Robert Yeager Health Complex in Pomona. It has a small satellite office at Spring Valley Village Hall for village residents who can't easily get to Pomona. The satellite office is staffed by a clerk and certified code inspector to provide forms and answer questions but cannot issue permits.

The Rockland County Office of Buildings and Codes encourages everyone to report hazardous conditions in the village. Complaints can be submitted by calling 1-845-364-3700 or emailing buildingsandcodes@co.rockland.ny.us.

SEE MORE: Rockland Hits Spring Valley Code Violator With $39250 Fine