A home in Tisbury was condemned by town officials this week after an inspection revealed alleged overcrowded conditions, which town records show to have been a pattern over three years.
The condemned home on 182 Lake St. is owned by Khanh and Quynh Tran, who also go by the first names John and Selena. The couple owns the local business Hollywood Nails along with several other residential properties in Tisbury and Oak Bluffs, according to real estate records. They purchased 182 Lake St. in 2010, and it’s unclear how long they have rented the property. The board of health and building department records state the couple is based in Falmouth.
At a Tisbury board of health meeting on Tuesday, health agent Drew Belsky presented a report on the condemned home. Board members said they recognized the home as the property with many cars in the front yard.
“I was originally supposed to attend housing court tomorrow, for an injunction on this property. But the owner complied to allow us to go do an inspection there [Monday],” Belsky said in the meeting. “After the inspection with the building and fire department and town administration, the building department did condemn the building.”
On Wednesday morning, no cars were in the driveway, an old boat was propped up on the lawn, and a purple bouncer for a baby was on the porch. A bright red condemnation notice was attached to the door.
The Trans, who The Times tried to reach through Hollywood Nails and a personal number, were not immediately available for comment.
The first complaint that referenced overcrowding at the Lake Street home was in 2023, when Maura Valley was the health agent. Valley wrote a letter to the Trans stating the board had received “complaints of severe overcrowding.”
She wrote that the location of the home on the Lagoon Pond watershed, one of the most sensitive watersheds on the Island to increased nitrogen, made adherence to the septic capacity of greater importance. Valley noted that the maximum capacity of the home was ten occupants across five bedrooms. Floor plans and records of the property from this year show eight bedrooms listed for the home, which is located on a parcel of more than 16,000 square feet.
“Overcrowded living conditions impact septic systems and, under current board of health nitrogen regulations, your system will need to be replaced with an advanced nitrogen removal system should it fail,” Valley wrote in 2023. Lagoon Pond has also been a part of the Tisbury’s denitrification efforts of local watersheds.
Based on reports from this August, that observation from Valley may have come to pass. On August 3, the town issued a notice to the Trans that their sewage disposal system had failed. After two pump-outs were conducted on the property within 30 days in July and early August, Belsky conducted an inspection of the home. They found additional bedrooms in the basement and attic of the home.
In the attic, there were “clear signs of occupancy by a family” observed by Belsky. This included a living room space, bathroom, small closet, and three beds.
After the notice of septic failure, the homeowners filed a complete septic system repair permit application. It was filed on August 13 and cited the applicant’s intention to upgrade to a nine-bedroom capacity. The request was approved by the town.
Still, the town is enforcing the condemnation and seeking “injunctive relief” in Southeast Housing Court, according to court documents. The town’s original complaint was filed Sept. 25 and the next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 4.
“The Town seeks preliminary and permanent injunctive relief requiring that Defendants immediately remedy the outstanding violations that exist on the property,” the complaint reads. “The ongoing violations present potential health and safety hazards to the occupants of the property, abutters, and the general public.”
It’s unclear how many occupants were staying in the home prior to condemnation, but they have moved out within the past 48 hours, according to health officials.
“The condemnation gave 24-hour notice of vacating the premises, which we followed up on at noon today,” Belsky said at the meeting on Tuesday.
Belsky said to the board on Tuesday that the chain of events with 182 Lake St. is “setting a blueprint for how we handle other homes in town” that potentially have overcrowded conditions.
“This one we were fortunate to get our foot in the door with a failed septic, and I got a walkthrough that initiated all of the urgency with all of this, but we are at least setting a blueprint for how we handle this going forward,” Belsky said.
This is a developing story.
