Rockland Reports 24 Living In Squalid, Hazardous House

Clarification: A violation notice had been issued and posted for this house, featured Feb. 17 on the Rockland County Government Facebook page, before the county took over the functions and responsibility of the Spring Valley building department Feb. 14. The building had been ordered vacated immediately. The new Office of Buildings and Codes is now involved and in the process of citing the property for at least 17 hazardous code violations.

UPDATE: In future, anyone found living in dangerous conditions will be referred to Rockland's Department of Social Services and/or three local non-profits which assist with that type of situation, a county spokesman said.

SPRING VALLEY, NY — Rockland County, with its new temporary powers of code enforcement in Spring Valley, revealed a Spring Valley house into which 24 people had been crammed in tiny, jerry-built living spaces.

There were at least 17 hazardous code violations, officials said on Facebook Feb. 17.

"This one property was housing 9 families, about two dozen people, including 5 children," officials said. "These families were living in makeshift rooms that included the front entryway, unfinished basement space and the attic. Many of these illegally converted spaces were unheated forcing tenants to utilize space heaters to stay warm along with hazardous illegal electrical wiring throughout the home."

"As a firefighter that's so scary," one commenter wrote on the Rockland County Government's Facebook page. "Exactly," responded County Executive Ed Day.

Another commenter worried about the fate of the apparent child inhabitant of a tiny makeshift bedroom in what appeared to be a former entry.

(Patch asked county officials what the new office's procedures were for tenants found in unsafe, illegal environments, but had not heard back when this article was first posted.)

Rockland launched its temporary Office of Buildings and Codes Feb. 14 with a 30-day moratorium on building permit applications in Spring Valley. The launch came three months after the New York State Department basically deputized the county to handle code inspections and enforcement for the village's troubled building department.

The state order, the first of its kind in New York, came a day after the head of Spring Valley'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 in Spring Valley was destroyed in a massive blaze last March 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.

"The true bad apples of the Village Building Department which are under indictment, have not and will not be part of this process," Day said in January.

While the new bureau, with a $1.5 million budget approved by the County Legislature, initially called for 12 full and part-time building and fire inspectors, officials Monday said they were going to start with 20 certified code inspectors.

There are more than 800 overdue inspections. While county officials wouldn't get specific, they did point out that under state law places of public assembly are required to be inspected every year and certain kinds of local dwellings are inspectable every three years.

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

There is a 30-day window to correct violations before fines would be considered. Administrative Court would be the venue when and if fines are issued.

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