Clarkstown Reqests Search Warrants for Houses Appearing to be in Violation of the Law

by M.C. Millman

Clarkstown officials have a hearing scheduled to request search warrants for sixteen houses suspected to be in violation of Clarkstown zoning laws and fire regulations and allowing countless renters to live in overcrowded and dangerous conditions.

The show case hearing is scheduled to take place on Monday, November 13, when Clarkstown officials will request immediate access to the sixteen properties so as to be able to see firsthand if the homes violate Clarkstown zoning and regulations. At the same time, Clarktown will seek to remove those living in the single-family houses should they prove to be in violation of the law.

According to court papers filed by Clarkstown, the properties' owners and management company have ths far refused the town inspectors' request to enter, leaving the town no other recourse.

The management company involved in the sixteen houses has already been taken to court by Clarkstown for other single-family home violations as reported by Rockland Daily here. 

Additionally, neither the owners nor their management company have registered with Clarktown's rental registry, which is a violation of town laws.

"Based on what we have seen in some of the houses already, we envision additional dangerous living conditions," Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann shared Monday, according to the Journal News. "This is not a fishing expedition. We know what's going on and the potential dangers. We cannot allow violations of our laws."

Clarkstown officials have already taken two property owners under the same property management company to state court to force the closure of boarding houses in single-family houses and the removal of tenants. Clarkstown officials claim there is a network of houses zoned for single-family living and overseen by the same management company.  

The property management company already taken to court by Clarkstown manages 339 rental homes throughout Rockland, with 37 rentals in Clarkstown, twenty of which comply with town codes.

And while the house at 295 New Hempstead Road in New City was ordered closed and the renters removed, Clarkstown officials don't know where those people went. Hoemann has suggested that the town suspects they could have been moved to other houses managed by the same property management company. 

With reports at the East Ramapo Central School District board meeting of October 24, as reported by Rockland Daily here where Ogechi Iuowaha, district assistant superintendent of instruction and curriculum, stated that "up to 100 children join the district weekly, if not daily," at a cost of $31,421 per student per year as reported by Rockland Daily here, it seems that cracking down on eighteen homes filled with illegal migrants is just a drop in the bucket. Much more is going to be required if there is any hope of stopping the epidemic of illegals pouring through the border, into a fully saturated New York State, then into Rockland County, and inevitably burrowing their way into every taxpayer's pocket.