“We felt we took a step up in life” when he and his wife, both 42, moved into a modest 1,200-square-foot 2-bedroom cape on First Street they bought for $366,000 in April 2009, Witt said. “I can remember being in awe of how much space we had.”

Now the couple have come to regard that move as a major misstep — one that could lead them to bankruptcy — and they are suing the village for their plight.

In a federal lawsuit filed in December against the village, the Planning Board and Building Inspector Robert Melillo, the Witts allege they were singled out for “selective enforcement of the law” after their house was severely damaged during Tropical Storm Irene. The village’s actions ended up costing them their home, where they dreamed of raising their family, the lawsuit alleges.

On Aug. 27, 2011, three months after their first child, Lloyd, was born, the couple were forced to evacuate their home near the Mamaroneck River during the storm. After the water had receded, they found the home uninhabitable.

“The first floor had three feet of water. Our front door was underwater,” said Witt, a legal assistant at a private investment company. “It was devastating. We were numb. Our neighbors helped us pump out the water.”

They then hired a company to tear out the mold-covered insulation, gypsum wallboard and floors.

The Witts filed a claim against their flood insurance policy, and started on the process to begin repairs and obtain building permits.

After a few weeks in hotels, David Witt’s company put the young family up in a temporary apartment to help tide them over.

By the time their insurance company came through with some of the money, it was November.

On Nov. 29, the village approved their building permit, and a $115,000 repair project, slated to take about eight to 10 weeks, finally began.

“We were excited about being able to finally move back into our home,” Witt said.

During the first four weeks of repair, village officials conducted at least three inspections of the property, and “each time the project passed inspection,” the lawsuit claims.

On Jan. 3, after about four weeks of continuous repair work, they were about halfway done. That’s when Building Inspector Robert Melillo showed up and issued a stop-work order, Witt said.

“All he would say was that the building permit was issued in error,” Witt said. “It was a huge shock. We had thought we were past the worst part. It was like we were stabbed in the heart.”

From then on, it was continual roadblocks, and mixed signals from the village, Witt said.

“The story changed every single time. First, we were told we need a state variance. Then we were told the house had to be elevated,” he said. “Every week, there was another hoop to jump through.”

Mayor Norman Rosenblum, Village Manager Richard Slingerland and Melillo declined to comment, citing the lawsuit.

Witt said he had taken out personal loans to help pay the contractor as the insurance money was being disbursed by the bank in small installments.

“Elevating the house was not an option for us; we were under tremendous financial stress,” Witt said.

The couple were told they would need a variance from the Planning Board. After three hearings, the board finally granted it Feb. 15, with conditions that were “onerous, unreasonable, unfair,” rendering the home worthless, the lawsuit alleges.

According to the terms of the variance, any potential subsequent purchaser would be responsible for elevating the house’s foundation, and the Witts were required by the Planning Board to add notice of this restriction to their deed.

The building inspector also informed the couple that they still would need to get certain variances from the state.

“By then we had been out of our home for six months, and I just knew in my heart that this application wasn’t going anywhere. It was a moment of utter defeat for us,” Witt said. “The building inspector had hijacked the whole process because (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) had been auditing how the town had been administering flood-insurance plans.”

By February, after five months in the company apartment, the Witts were looking for a place to rent. In March, they stopped paying the mortgage.

“We couldn’t afford it. That was the first time in my life that I didn’t pay a bill,” Witt said. “It was a horrible feeling.”

After an unsuccessful attempt at a short sale, the house is under foreclosure. One contractor has a $20,000 lien on the house.

Gochaku Witt said she has been having trouble sleeping.

“I keep asking myself what we did wrong. Is it because I am Japanese?” said Gochaku Witt, who works for the Japanese Mission to the United Nations. “Our whole future is ruined. Our credit history is ruined and we expect we will have to declare bankruptcy in the future.”

The family of three now lives in a 600-square-foot, one–bedroom apartment in Queens.

“We live in a small, cramped space. This is not what we had envisioned,” said Gochaku Witt, who had planted a cherry tree in the front yard for their son just months before he was born. “This went from a natural disaster to a man-made disaster.”