Investigators: Flanders house overcrowded

The owner of a Flanders house was cited for numerous housing violations after Southampton code enforcement and the town's police found 17 occupants and 12 cars at a home on Silver Brook Drive.

The house is permitted to have seven bedrooms, and five of them were overcrowded, officials said. It appeared that two separate families, each with two children, and nine unrelated adults were living in the home.

The town is concerned because "there are two babies in this house, very dangerous wiring, and smoke detectors disabled," said Southampton Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst. "The last thing we would ever want to see is a house like that to go up in a blaze."

Chief town investigator David Betts said the property is owned by 288 Properties LLC in Hampton Bays. The company is owned by Michael Dorazio of Hampton Bays and he was charged with having no working smoke detectors, using extension cords as wiring, making alterations without a permit, and lack of maintenance. One 99- square-foot bedroom had four occupants and an illegal second kitchen was found, officials said.

Attempts to reach Dorazio were unsuccessful.

No court date has been set on the citations.

Although the homeowner has a rental permit, Betts said, it does not allow multi-residences or maintaining a second apartment on site.

Officials found 12 cars on the property Tuesday when the search warrant was executed. Town code permits one car per bedroom and an extra, for a total of eight at this address. Town code also requires 70 square feet for the first resident to sleep in, with any additional resident requiring 50 square feet, Betts said.

The town recently added two code enforcement officers to its staff in an effort to step up investigations of substandard housing, Throne-Holst said. Two other homes were cited Feb. 17 for overcrowding, one in Flanders and the other in Northampton, said Ryan Horn, assistant to the town board.

"We also know that once the summer season ramps up around here, we always see an uptick in code infractions," the supervisor said, adding that summer rental homes also must abide by town codes.

"It's a health, safety and quality-of-life issue. We are making sure we don't have any tragedies on our hands," Throne-Holst said.