RAMAPO - Neighbors of the massive Viola Estates housing complex have beaten back a developer's stealth inclusion of basement space for potential illegal apartments at the Viola Road development across from Ramapo High School.

The agreement reached limited the number of condominiums to the town-approved 44, sealed off outside entrances to basements and removed electrical panels, boilers and other items that could support apartments.

The builder also regraded the ground outside the former entrances to make reopening the doors problematic, said Steven Mogel, attorney for the neighbors who took Ramapo and the developer to court to force compliance with approved building plans.

"Everything we documented that the property was being prepped and boldly used for illegal apartments has been removed," Mogel said Friday.

He said his clients stood up to an influential developer with deep financial pockets and Ramapo government and proved opposition can win. The Ramapo Town Board approved the settlement.

"They stood their ground," Mogel said. "They had to contend with not just a developer, who had millions of dollars to spend, but a very hostile municipal environment in which the town joined forces with the developer."

Mogel said only after a state Supreme Court justice viewed the neighbor's evidence as credible, did the town legal department and building department issue a stop work order against the developer.

He said the neighbors — Orthodox Jews — also faced the pressure within their own community for taking on an influential Orthodox Jewish developer.

"They did this because they were given no other outlet, aside from the media," Mogel said. "The town didn't act to put the brakes on this until forced."

The Viola Estates managing partner at the time was Efraim Grossman and the builder was Shimmy Galandauer.

Grossman sold the property to Yossi Herskowitz, whose family has built housing across Rockland County. Herskowitz filed a revised site plan with the town for the 44-unit project, which Galandauer enlarged during construction beyond the approved plans.

The agreement ended a lawsuit by Mogel's clients.

​Herskowitz also reimbursed the neighbors for their legal costs that Mogel estimated at six figures. Mogel said the owner also agreed to build a three-sided fence and signed a restrictive covenant granting enforcement rights to property owners who live within 500 feet of the complex.

What tipped the case in favor of the neighbors was their engineering report submitted in October to state Supreme Court Justice William Kelly. The inspection outlined the dual plumbing, extra doorbells, electrical system and boilers for accessory apartments in the basements.

Ramapo prohibits such accessory apartments in multiple-family zones. The builder's lawyers and town officials countered the apartments didn't exist since no certificate of occupancy had been issued — which Mogel and the neighbor dubbed disingenuous.

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The neighbors named Building Inspector Anthony Mallia, Viola Gardens LLC and Galandauer's Shimmy Enterprises Inc. in their lawsuit.

The development sits on the former Temple Beth El property, sold at auction, and originally zoned for single family homes allowing 1.74 units per acre. The Town Board, at the developer's request, changed the zone to multiple family permitting eight units per acre in July 2013 — 44 units in 20, three-floor townhouses squeezed into the 5.5 acres next door to the former synagogue and parking lot.

The neighbors saw the construction and the owner's sales advertisement promoting the accessory apartments and later plans filed with the State Attorney General's Office.

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When Galanduer got caught after neighbors complained to Ramapo, Mallia approved the updated plans that included the accessory basement apartments instead of moving to stop the construction, with the proviso the builder was approved by the Town Board.

Galandauer was a contributor to then-Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence's campaign and had built a $200,000 extension to Mallia's Airmont house, according to records in Airmont.

Based on a Rockland District Attorney's Office investigation into the Ramapo Building Department, a grand jury indicted Mallia on 188 charges. He's accused primarily of giving developers cut-rate costs for building permits, costing taxpayers to lose more than $150,000 in revenues.

Mallia resigned as chief building inspector in a deal with Ramapo giving him four months pay and money for accrued time off.

Twitter: @lohudlegal