Water Mill Raid: House, or Resort?

    Southampton Town officials announced this week that they had raided a private 10-bedroom house in Water Mill that was, they said, being operated as a resort. On Sunday, police officers and town code enforcement officers entered the building at 76 Rose Hill Road and found numerous violations of the town building and rental codes, including two additional basement bedrooms, which were prohibited by the certificate of occupancy and the building plans approved by the town. The basement area of the pool house was in the process of being converted to a two-bedroom apartment to house two staff members, who were acting as concierges for the property. That conversion did not have a building permit.

    A stop-work order was issued for the pool house, and records were seized to help in the investigation of whether the house was being used as a commercial business property in a residential area. The town does not permit rentals of properties for less than 30 days. The owner, Michael D’Alessio, and the two staff members, Megan Kemper and Mathew Ardley, were issued appearance tickets for several violations of the town code, including a lack of rental permits, a pattern of transient rentals, missing building permits, missing plumbing or electrical permits, changes of use, and violations of the house’s certificate of occupancy.