A Second Southampton Village Trustee Accused Of Doing Work Without A Building Permit

Less than two months after Southampton Village Trustee Roy Stevenson was accused of having work done at his Jobs Lane business without proper permits, another village trustee is facing similar accusations — as well as an unwanted intrusion from at least one village resident who may have crossed the line in trying to figure out what was going on.

Trustee Robin Brown’s village residence has been the source of curiosity and speculation in recent weeks, with rumors swirling that she has been doing construction at her home without obtaining a building permit.

Southampton Village Police responded to a trespassing call at Brown’s home on Friday, April 8, when a man who said he was hired by village resident Frank DeVito walked onto her property and began taking photos.

Earlier this week, DeVito confirmed that he had paid a photographer to take photos at Brown’s property but said the photographer was unaware that he did not have permission to go there. DeVito said he had simply included Brown’s address on a list of locations he needed photographed, which included properties where DeVito, a local contractor, had been hired to do work.

He added that he didn’t consider sending the photographer to Brown’s home to be trespassing, insisting that since the construction area was not properly fenced off, he or anyone else would have the right to set foot on the property without permission.

Brown did not respond to repeated requests, in the form of phone calls, text messages and emails, seeking comment and clarification on the construction at her home. But she did confirm, via text, that Village Police had responded quickly and identified the man who had entered her property without permission and began taking photos of the construction work in the backyard.

“It’s reassuring to know that our Southampton Village Police Department serves and protects its residents well,” she said, adding that because the matter is “part of an open police department case,” she did not want to comment further.

Mayor Jesse Warren also declined to comment on the fact that in the span of just a few weeks, two village trustees had failed to obtain building permits for work at their home and business. He deferred questioning to senior building inspector Tien Ho So, who did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

On March 15, an anonymous caller told the village ordinance inspector that work was possibly being done without a permit at Brown’s home. The ordinance inspector reported that the homeowner said the work was cleanup. He scheduled a visit the next morning.

During the visit, the ordinance inspector and the building inspector observed a new exterior door entrance, concrete stairs leading into the basement foundation and what appeared to be a formerly open but now enclosed porch, according to the Village Police blotter. They both determined that, due to the scope of the work, the homeowner should have applied for a building permit and submitted architectural plans.

A Freedom of Information request submitted at the Building Department last week revealed that no building permits had been issued for Brown’s property, and there did not seem to be any stop-work orders issued either.

Derrick Highsmith, who works in the Building Department, said that residents who begin work without obtaining the proper building permits are required to pay double the appropriate fees if and when they apply for the building permit. As of early this week, Brown still had not done so.