East Ramapo school board president's complex has illegal subdivision

SPRING VALLEY — An illegally subdivided townhouse was found at a housing complex owned by the president of the East Ramapo Board of Education, village housing inspectors said Wednesday.

Walls were built to add three apartments to one of the eight townhouses at 29 Bethune Boulevard, officials said. The three-story building is owned by Yehuda Weissmandl through his company, Prestige Builders of 1 Koritz Way, New Square, officials said.

Two of the added rooms were found in the basement and one on the second floor, Assistant Fire Inspector Frank Youngman said. The complex has eight attached townhouses and was built about five years ago.

The subdivided townhouse was discovered Tuesday night when Spring Valley firefighters responded to an alarm at the building. One apartment flooded when an automatic sprinkler activated.

Youngman inspected the complex on Wednesday with Weissmandl’s property manager, Jonathan Weiss.

Weiss said he was unaware of the additions made to the townhouse by the tenants and told them to remove the walls. He said Youngman gave him until Sept. 12.

Youngman said he would allow Weiss time to correct the problems but added that Chief Building Inspector Walter Booker would decide if violations with potential penalties would be issued.

Youngman said the seven rooms in the townhouse all had separate locks and rooming houses were prohibited in the village. The illegal addition on the second floor was well constructed, with sheetrock and insulation.

“You couldn’t tell a room was added unless you compared what was there to the original plans,” Youngman said.

Youngman said that while Weiss told him the townhouse produced $2,200 a month, the tenants claimed to pay $400 and up to $600 per room. Youngman said tenants told him Weiss was aware of the additions.

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