SPRING VALLEY ‒ Efforts by the property owners to prevent vagrants from entering the burned-down Evergreen Court Home from Adults have fallen short.
Despite a court agreement, the owners have failed to secure the property on Lafayette Street and hire security guards. Vagrants were recently able to reenter the poorly fenced-off property and make themselves at home, county officials and an attorney for one of the owners said Monday.
The residential neighborhood property is where Spring Valley Fire Department Lt. Jared Lloyd, 35, and adult home resident Oliver Hueston, 79, died in a fire that erupted in March 2021.
The property remained burned down for three years, despite the owners’ plans to rebuild, according to New York state officials. The Rockland Office of Buildings and Codes went to the New York State Supreme Court in New City on April 17 for a temporary restraining order to force the owners to fence off the site and provide security.
One of the office’s inspectors found the site violated state fire and safety codes. The county’s concerns became more pronounced after a May 2 fire attributed to squatters occurred on the property.
The county filed court papers accusing the owner of contempt, A hearing is scheduled for June 12.
“County inspectors recently re-inspected the site and found that “more people have accessed the property,” said Beth Cefalu, spokesperson for County Executive Ed Day. “The inspectors then called SVPD (Spring Valley Police Department) to vacate the property.”
Cefalu said said inspectors would return to the site on Tuesday.
Rockland County Attorney Thomas Humbach said Monday that the county will use the courts to force compliance.
“Where laws require certain standards of behavior, then all persons must live up to that standard,” Humbach said. “We will investigate and will give credit where good faith compliance efforts are made to correct problems. But where violators thumb their nose at the county and engage in delay, obfuscation, and prevarication, the county will seek the full impact of the law to ensure that there is compliance.”
He said, “No one should profit from evading requirements of the law when those who comply must expend time and money.”
Owners have not fully secured fencing
The county’s legal action named one of the owners, Jacob Schoenberger of Monsey. His family owns several adult homes, including one on Prospect Street, that had been ordered closed for health code and other violations.
Attorney Kevin Conway, representing the owner, said Monday that more needs to be done to secure the property.
“They are still in the process of securing the property,” Conway said. “They don’t want vagrants coming in. After being informed by the county, I told them they have to redo whatever was there. What’s there is not sufficient.”
Fencing is low and can be easily climbed at spots around the property. The site is bordered by Allison Street, Lake Street, and Lafayette Street. A gate without locks stood open Monday, leading to the driveway of a Lake Street building.
“It takes time,” Conway said. “The client told me he will redouble the efforts.”
The agreement details steps to secure property
On May 16, attorneys for the county and the property’s owners signed a stipulation on cleaning up the site, which was viewed as a danger to the community.
The agreement states the owners “will immediately secure the referenced site with security fencing and board up all windows, doors and all other access points on all structures to prevent access by vagrants and the homeless and employ the services of a security company to deter any trespassers or squatters.”
The owners also must hire security guards and inform the county of demolition or remediation plans while seeking the necessary permits or approvals from land-use boards, the agreement states.
Spring Valley police didn’t respond on Monday to a request for comment on the department’s monitoring of the property.
Evergreen Court owners also own other adult homes
The Schoenbergers have indicated to the New York State Department of State that they plan to rebuild the Evergreen Court facility on the Lafayette Street property.
The state has closed down at least two other Schoenberger facilities for violations, including the 79-bed New Golden Acres Adult Home on Prospect Street in Spring Valley. However, the state has not fined the family. No criminal charges involving the Evergreen Court blaze were filed against the owners by the Rockland District Attorney’s Office.
Lloyd, a father of two young sons, died while he and dozens of other firefighters evacuated 112 residents and employees and attempted to put out the flames. The Schoenbergers are among those named in lawsuits filed by Lloyd’s mother and Hueston’s sons.
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com Twitter: @lohudlegal
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