Evergreen Court owners secure burned out Spring Valley property where 2 died in 2021 fire
SPRING VALLEY - The owners of the burned-out adult home where two people died in 2021 have agreed to fence in the property and provide 24-hour security to ensure squatters don't enter.
The agreement between Rockland County and the owners of the Evergreen Court Home for Adults ends a court case before state Supreme Court Justice Hal Greenwald in the County Courthouse in New City.
The Rockland Office of Building and Codes went to court on April 17 for a temporary restraining order to force the owners to fence off the site at 65 Lafayette St. and provide security. One of the office's inspectors found the site violated state fire and safety codes. The concerns became more pronounced after a May 2 fire attributed to squatters occurred on the property.
On May 16, attorneys for the county and owners signed a stipulation on cleaning up the site, which was viewed as a danger to the community.
Agreement details securing burned-out property
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.
The owners' Rockland attorney, Kevin Conway, said Wednesday that the fencing has been erected and security hired. Conway said the delay in securing the property was to allow the families of the two people killed in the March 2021 fire to inspect the property as part of two wrongful death lawsuits.
Spring Valley Fire Department Lt. Jared Lloyd, 35, and adult home resident Oliver Hueston, 79, died in the fire that erupted on March 22, 2021, the result of two rabbis cleansing the kitchen and ovens for the Passover holiday with a blowtorch.
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. A portion of the building fell on him.
"There are two insurance claims for wrongful death and the owners had to leave the site in the current conditions for inspections involving the lawsuits," Conway said. "It was not a secure site."
Conway said the owners plan to seek permits from the county to demolish the site.
The owners — the Schoenberger family — 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 facility had been insured, but Conway said he didn't know how much the family got reimbursed.
The Schonberger family owns several assisted living facilities in New York, but provides a corporate address in Lakewood, New Jersey, with the New York Department of State.
The state has closed down facilities for violations, including the 79-bed New Golden Acres Adult Home on Prospect Street in Spring Valley. But the state has not fined the family. No criminal charges involving the fatal blaze were filed against the owners by the Rockland District Attorney's Office.
The county's legal action named one of the owners, Jacob Schoenberger of Monsey. The family is named in lawsuits filed by Lloyd's mother and Hueston's sons.
Rockland County government Attorney Thomas Humbach said that after the owners didn't act for three years, the county asked the court to order the owners to demolish or vacate the Evergreen Court premises or to make the premises conform with their certificates of occupancy.
The county stated the owners had three years to clean up and secure the property and that the county did not believe the owners could make the property meet state fire and safety codes, according to the legal action.
"It is the county’s intent to continue to follow up on this matter until the area is safe," Humbach said. "Any failure by the owner to live up to his responsibilities under the law, and under the orders in this case will be met with motions for contempt and further actions and penalty assessments by the county’s Office of Buildings and Codes."
The Office of Building and Codes inspected the burned-out site on March 24 and April 2. New York State deputized the county in November 2021 to inspect and enforce fire codes for the Spring Valley after years of complaints about the village Building Department's dysfunction.
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com Twitter: @lohudlegal
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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Spring Valley: Evergreen Court owners secure site where 2 died in 2021
