State warns Spring Valley to enforce building and fire codes - or else

SPRING VALLEY New York state officials have ordered the village to immediately begin inspecting buildings and schools that are rife with fire and safety violations — or face a potential takeover.

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The Division of Building Standards and Codes Oct. 6 order follows an agency investigation of the village's Building Department and months of consultations with village officials about uninspected buildings that potentially endanger students, tenants, and first-responders.

The state gave the village 30 days from Oct 6 to make the changes or face state action.

The order found continuous failures by Spring Valley to inspect buildings and schools, as well as to meet the minimum standards required for issuing building permits, requiring permit applications, conducting construction inspections, and issuing certificates of occupancy.

The minimum standard requires inspections at least once a year for fire safety and property maintenance. The state says the village's policies have resulted in certain buildings never being inspected, or being inspected at intervals that exceed once a year.

The state agency issued a critical preliminary report in January on what it said was a lack of enforcement in Spring Valley and Ramapo. The report came following more than a year of pressure from Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, County Executive Ed Day, and the Rockland Illegal Housing Task Force, which refers reports of alleged violations to local building inspectors. The task force's actions spurred the state investigations.

The overall inadequacy of the housing inspections — as well as problems with slum housing and absentee landlords — led Day to order the Rockland County Department of Health to use the county's sanitary code to inspect housing across the county. The county also is collecting housing complaints and publicizing landlords with violations through the Rockland Codes Initiative.

Task force chairman John Kryger said Wednesday that the state has not acted fast enough on Spring Valley.

"It's taken the state more than a year to come to the conclusion that something's wrong in Spring Valley?" Kryger said. "The state can order whatever it wants but the fact is the Village of Spring Valley cannot, as currently staffed and funded, comply with these orders."

Kryger said he and the task force's vice chairs believe the state is just postponing an inevitable takeover of fire, building and code enforcement duties in Spring Valley and, potentially, Ramapo.

"All of Rockland is sitting on a powder keg," Kryger said, citing Tuesday's fatal fire in Central Nyack. "It's frightening when we measure the severity of a fatal fire by the number killed and not killed. It's time for all county municipal governments, not just the county Health Department, to take a long, hard look at what's happening and become proactive."

Spring Valley Mayor Demeza Delhomme's attempt to hire more inspectors has been thwarted by the majority on the Board of Trustees. The trustees and the mayor remain at loggerheads on many issues facing the financially strapped village.

Delhomme in the past year has both suspended and tried to fire Chief Building Inspector Walter Booker, who had to go to court to get the suspension overturned. He also removed fire inspectors from Booker's oversight.

Booker declined comment on the state order. Booker has asked the Board of Trustees over the years for more staff to investigate the housing and commercial buildings in the 2 1/2-square-mile village. Fire inspectors also have petitioned the board for more staff and equipment.

Rockland Fire and Emergency Services Coordinator Gordon Wren Jr. and other officials have suggested to the village that inspection fees, plus fines for violations, could support adding staff to the Building Department. On the collection end, State Sen. David Carlucci has sponsored legislation that authorizes municipalities to add unpaid housing code violation penalties, costs and fines to an owner's tax bill. Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski is sponsoring the bill in that chamber.

Trustee Vilair Fonvil said Wednesday that Booker needs to "prove to us they need more staff" and provide information on the inspections.

He said the trustees and mayor have not had an in-depth discussion on the issue or the latest order from the state.

"I don't know if we have to hire more inspectors," Fonvil said. "The building department has to do its job."

The state codes agency also noted dozens of private schools have gone uninspected for years for compliance with state fire and building codes. Private schools have added classroom trailers without either proper permits or documentation that the modular units meet safety standards, the state says.

Division of Building Standards and Codes director Ronald Piester didn't respond to requests for comment.

Edison Alban, a representative of Secretary of State Cesar Perales's office, which oversees the codes division, said in an email: "The Department of State assumes that the Village will meet the deadlines set forth in the Secretary’s Order. It is far too early to say what will happen if the Village does not meet those deadlines."

Alban also described a review of Ramapo's code-enforcement efforts as "ongoing."

State officials said Spring Valley promised to make improvements and corrections in February in response to the code division's initial investigation, but the village has not done so.

For example, the state agency says the village deputy building inspector, Manny Carmona, assured the state in a February letter that three properties identified by the task force were under "strict investigation to ensure that the proper documentation [had been] filed" and, if not, that "proper action will be taken to ensure compliance." The documents included building permits and applications for permits for three trailers used for private school classrooms.

In March, state codes employees spent nine days with building officials, interviewing employees, reviewing files, and attending site visits, inspections and court appearances.

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