Spring Valley Put On Notice Over Building Inspections
SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The clock is ticking.
Following a lengthy investigation, New York state has given Spring Valley 30 days to get its building inspections on track or else, WCBS 880's Sean Adams reported.
The village has been plagued by inadequate staffing at the building department and the state has been investigating claims of lax inspections and perilous living conditions.
There's an epidemic of slum housing, illegal subdivisions, absentee landlords, and private schools operating in single family homes without proper permits and fire protections, Adams reported.
"Anybody who's had the experience of going to some of these locations and seeing the death traps that we're looking at here understand the criticality of this," Rockland County Executive Ed Day said.
The county has been cracking down by strictly enforcing the sanitary code, but now it just might take over fire and safety inspections all together.
"The state has asked us if we would engage in protecting the citizens of Rockland County, who happen to live in Spring Valley, and we said straight out absolutely we would help," Day said. "If the state says to Spring Valley that 'you're out,' and says to the county 'are you up for it?' we're going to be in and we're going to do what has to be done."
Spring Valley's mayor told The Journal News he'll fix it.
