On Overcrowding and Illegal Dwellings, Port Chester Aims to Hit Landlords Where It Hurts – In Their Wallets

Port Chester could collect almost half a million dollars from recalcitrant landlords if its attorneys win the 89 code violation cases currently working their way through the courts.

That was one of the highlights of the latest quarterly report from Port Chester's Department of Code Enforcement, which detailed the violations, fines and compliance rates resulting from more than 2,400 inspections over the last three months.

Of the 89 current court cases, 73 are directly related to overcrowding and illegal apartments, problems that were a centerpiece of the recent mayoral election.

They're touchy issues in a village where former leaders turning a blind eye to rampant law-breaking among landlords and tenants. And when talk strays to other issues, events have a way of reeling the discussion back to home hazards and illegal housing. Both were cited as factors in two major fires in recent months. In this month's , which , and a in a Willow Street home, the building owners were cited for housing and fire violations.

In the past three months, Port Chester landlords paid $40,350 in violations. On Monday, several trustees said that's not enough.

With 143 fines paid, that works out to about $272 per violation – "a slap on the wrist" in some cases, prosecutor Robert Pierce said.

Although landlords who rack up half a dozen violations in one inspection might end up with more than $1,000 in fines, they might find it's easier to absorb the cost and continue breaking the law, Trustee Dan Brakewood pointed out.

Pierce agreed, noting that paying thousands in fines might be "the cost of doing business for some of these people," especially those landlords who own multiple properties in Port Chester.

In the past, that meant would remain as-is. Now, inspectors will drag those landlords back to court – and pile on the fines – until the landlords comply, officials said.

"We're not backing down," Code Enforcement Director Christopher Steers said.

For years, residents complained that the building department was at best mismanaged and at worst corrupt as hotline complaints were ignored and cases were never resolved. Those views seemed to be at least partially validated when Mayor Dennis Pilla said detectives are of more than 3,000 building permit cases in their criminal probe of the building department; of those cases, 1,000 were never closed.

Last year, Port Chester leaders took code enforcement out of the hands of the building department staff and turned it into its own department. In April of 2010, police launched a criminal investigation focused on the department, and was suspended.

Police again on March 10; aside from a few staffers who were moved to the clerk's office and continue to answer questions and process applications, the department has been offering bare-bones services.

"The weakest link has been the building department," Steers said Monday, when Trustee Bart Didden quizzed him on the major impediments to the continued crack-down on illegal housing.

At the same meeting, trustees voted to hire a new building inspector, another step in what Mayor Dennis Pilla described as an ongoing effort aimed at "rooting out corruption" that goes back decades in the village. Read the story on the vote to approve the new building inspector .

Click the gallery to view the latest code enforcement report.

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