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Two Hackensack landlords face fines after rental house fireThursday, December 13, 2012 Last updated: Thursday December 13, 2012, 11:41 PM
BY JEFF PILLETS AND HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITERS
The Record
Hackensack officials did an abrupt about-face Thursday, pledging to cite two prominent local lawyers for problems at a rental house they own — which was damaged by fire earlier this week — and asking a neighboring town to review the city’s handling of the case.
This Hackensack house had 15 tenants and had been illegally converted, officials said. The owners are two local lawyers.
TARIQ ZEHAWI/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The decision by City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono comes one day after Building Department chief Joseph Mellone told The Record he would cite tenants for illegal conditions at the Johnson Avenue house, but not issue summonses to city zoning board attorney Richard Malagiere and land-use lawyer Carmine Alampi, the owners.
“The entire matter is being revisited,” Lo Iacono said. “It’s an ugly story.”
Lo Iacono and a city councilman noted that the house at 238 Johnson Ave. is part of a larger tract that has been identified by Hackensack as a potential redevelopment area. A county freeholder on Thursday also questioned if there was a possible conflict between Malagiere’s ownership and his dual roles as attorney for the city zoners and the county freeholders. The land lies a block away from the county’s old police headquarters that has been rezoned as a mixed-use residential tract and is slated to be sold.
Neither lawyer returned calls for comment Thursday.
Malagiere and Alampi bought the house in December 2007 through their company, 236 Johnson Avenue LLC. The company also owns the house at 236 Johnson.
They rented the house to two families, although fire officials are investigating whether a third family lived there illegally. The house is registered in the city as a two-family home, but the building is described in Bergen County’s assessment records as a single-family dwelling.
Fourteen or 15 people were living in the 1,400-square-foot house when the fire broke out early Monday. Fire officials said it was caused by faulty wiring.
Mellone told The Record on Wednesday that there were numerous illegal electrical connections, that a closet had been turned into a bedroom and that wires had been cut and spliced open with inferior-gauge “lamp wire.”
City officials had talked informally about a possible rezoning of the area around the Johnson Avenue houses under a plan to revitalize the so-called commuter “gateway” near the New Bridge Landing train station and Route 4.
Lo Iacono said Malagiere was not part of the negotiations with the county over the rezoning of the adjacent 11-acre Zabriskie Street site that houses the old county police department.
Councilman John Labrosse cited a possible conflict, or at least the appearance of one, in noting that the zoning board attorney owns property that has been eyed for redevelopment.
“It’s a very, very thin line,” he said. “If you have people involved in a planning or zoning board and they’re buying property in an area that’s going to be part of redevelopment, it could definitely raise questions.”
In 2008, Malagiere and Alampi got approval from the zoning board to tear down 236-238 Johnson Ave. to construct an office building. Zoning Board President Michael Guerra said he didn’t know whether Malagiere stated his connection to the property at the time because he could not recall the application.
Jeanne Baratta, chief of staff to Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan, also raised concerns Thursday about Malagiere’s involvement.
Baratta said Malagiere sought information about the status of the Zabriskie Street property during freeholder work sessions. During one such session, she said, he was asked if he was seeking information as freeholder attorney or Hackensack zoning board attorney and was advised that his questions were not appropriate.
Freeholder Rob Hermansen, a Republican who is leaving next month, said Malagiere never told the board about his business interests near the Zabriskie Street redevelopment area even as he urged the board to sell the property for private development.
“He asked the board who we were going to sell the property to and things like that, and we all kind of looked at each other,” Hermansen said. “He said it would be positive for Hackensack if we sold to a developer.”
Hermansen added that Malagiere is likely to be replaced as freeholder attorney next year when political control of the board switches to Democrats. “It's not useful talking about if he should resign or not because he's gone anyway,” Hermansen said.
Hackensack’s Fire Prevention Bureau is required to inspect all two-family houses that are not owner-occupied when a new tenant moves in. Inspections weren’t done for the current tenants of 236 Johnson, said Lt. Chris Annunziata, the city’s fire official and head of the bureau.
He said city records had not been updated to show that no owner lives on site. The Building Department is supposed to issue a new certificate of occupancy when ownership changes, he said, but that also did not happen.
Mellone said in the interview Wednesday that tenants would be cited for illegal conditions and that the owners told the city they weren’t aware of modifications to the house or the number of people living there.
But Lo Iacono said Thursday, after a meeting with building and fire officials, that the owners would be cited over the lack of a current certificate of occupancy. He has also asked Teaneck building officials to review files and procedures and submit a report on the matter that will be made public.
Email: pillets@northjersey.com and adely@northjersey.com