Dangerous Buildings, Board of Review

BOARD OF REVIEW - DANGEROUS BUILDINGS MINUTES WEDNESDAY MARCH 28, 2012 Committee members present: Gary Schnip, James Quarto, Alderwoman Sofee Noblick, Richard Caron Committee members not present: Andrew Zeeman, VACANCY. Others present: James Troeger, Alderman H. Tucker Braddock Jr. (arrived at 6:25 p.m.) 1. Call to Order: Gary Schnip called the meeting to order at 5:38 p.m. 2. Determination of a Quorum: It was determined that a quorum was present. 3. Acceptance of Minutes from February 22, 2012. Upon motion by Sofee Noblick, seconded by Richard Caron, the Board voted unanimously to approve the minutes. It was unanimously voted to suspend the rules to add 556 East Main Street to the agenda and to talk to the owner, Ya Ling, about the dangerous buildings and smoke stack on the property before moving on to the next agenda item. Jim Troeger explains that the building bordering on East Main Street needs attention. The entire back building is in danger of losing bricks onto the sidewalk. It needs to be made safe. Gary Schnip feels that the chimney is also a major concern. He agrees that the buildings are in disrepair and asks Ya Ling what her intentions are. Ya Ling explains that she has put a lot of her own money into the property, including refinancing her homes mortgage to pay for the roof. Funding is a problem and it would be helpful if the City could give some sort of assistance, perhaps by way of tax breaks. By helping the owner, the City would gain because the property would be cleaned up and used which would bring more people to Norwich. Sofee Noblick suggests that perhaps a company that uses bricks for mulch and other aftermarket products may be willing to take down the top of the chimney for the bricks instead of money. Ya Ling explains that with the current economy she cannot afford to do any work on this property and also that when she purchased the property in 2007 the zoning laws about parking spaces per apartment were different. Now it is very difficult to move this property along. She will not be able to make as many apartments now which means less income from the property. Jim Troeger explains that this committee is concerned with buildings that are dangerous and cannot assist with funding issues and zoning issues. It is very important that the dangerous issues on the property are taken care of. The consensus of the committee is that the chimney be taken care of first. The committee is giving Ya Ling 90 days to have at least the top 10 feet taken down. 4. Communications: None. Board of Review – Dangerous Buildings 03/28/2012 Minutes Page 2 5. Blight updates/concerns: a. 77 Chestnut Street – Barry has had the main building and little building behind it surveyed. He is putting together demolition numbers for the Council. b. 60 School Street – Ed Belli – There have been people working there. c. 145 Wightman Avenue – There have been no positive changes made. They haven’t kept up with promises and deadlines. There is a building permit issued for this property but nothing has been done. There is also now a mobile home on the property. Jim Troeger will bring this into Jeremy Booty again and update the citations. Jim Troeger has spoken with the City Attorney about the options the City has in these situations. Mike Driscoll stated that the City doesn’t have the power to take these properties or force them to do certain things. It is possible the neighbors can file a lawsuit because it is an eyesore and damaging the property values in the area. Otherwise, the City doesn’t have the right to force things. Jim Quarto wonders what other Towns do in these situations. Alderman Tucker Braddock Jr. believes that knowing when the Insurance company is going to pay the owner on the claim that the City would be in better shape if all requests for the owner to care for the property around that time so that when the owner gets the check it will be in their minds that if they don’t do these repairs they will be fined for it. Ordinance changes will be needed as well. Richard Caron believes it should be within the City’s ability to force owners clean up blighted properties. Sofee Noblick believes the Building Maintenance Code should be stronger. It needs to have teeth. The committee should work on the Code and then have Corporation Counsel determine the legality of the changes they would like to make. The committee is going to look over the BOCA and see what options there are. i. 53 Washington Street – Sofee states that Joe Ruffo is concerned about auctioning this property. The committee needs to do something before selling it to ensure that a buyer will not be able to use it as it currently is. There needs to be restrictions on the uses of this property. d. 105 Stonington Road (Garage) – Bank own ed. Ed is trying to contact the bank. The work is at a standstill. Jim will keep trying to get more information on this. e. 26 Sherman Street – The yard is now cleaned up. The property is owned by Konstant Morell or by a client of his and that the plan is to take down the building. Jim will call Konstant and continue watching and report back to the committee. Board of Review – Dangerous Buildings 03/28/2012 Minutes Page 3  Watch List: f. 191-193 Broad Street – The owner received the insurance money and the porch will be repaired by April 20th. g. 17 West Town Street – Spoke with the owner, Wayne Consentino, and he can’t get sewer until it is installed nearby. He isn’t willing to give it to the City if he’s still going to have to pay his mortgage. Alderman Braddock Jr. suggests that the owner can get a dry septic system. It is something new that is available. Jim Troeger states that the owner is willing to take down the building but he had concerns that the historic committee would be up in arms about it. Jim also states that the neighbor is interested in the property and he would be willing to take down the building but he’s not willing to pay for it. h. 60 Roath Street – City owned. The City cleaned it up. It is on the auction list. i. 53 Washington Street – Sofee re-iterates that Joe Ruffo is concerned about this building being sold at auction without restrictions on uses. He believes it should be on the homestead program so it is controlled. It was unanimously decided to recommend 53 Washington Street be removed from the auction list so it can be placed in the Homestead Program so the City can ensure demolition of the building and not any attempted repairs. j. 205 Gifford Street – It is still leaning. The owner said she is working towards taking care of this. Jim will keep it on the watch list. k. 54-58 Broadway – Nothing new to report to the committee. l. 60 Broad Street – The property has been cleaned up mostly. There was very little left on the property. m. Curran Street – The walls are up and the yard has been cleaned up. It’s moving but very slow. n. 15 Park Street – The building is pretty much down. Jim is still waiting for the plans. After a catastrophic event (the blizzard collapsed the roof), the owner has to do the new construction under the new codes after a year passes. The blizzard was in January of 2011 so Jim will talk to Tianne about this. Jim will look into this and let the committee know. o. 105 Chestnut – Sofee called Mel and he wasn’t ready because his attorney was on vacation. He is still working on it. Mel will let the committee know when he is ready to do something with this. 6. Public Comments: There are none. Board of Review – Dangerous Buildings 03/28/2012 Minutes Page 4 7. Other:  Jim Troeger will add to the watch list the houses on Oak Street that were affected by the fire. The one that had the fire is gone and the roof of the house next to the fire is gone. Technically the building is repairable. Richard Caron wants to remind the committee about the property on Laurel Hill. It is still in pretty bad shape. 8. Next meeting – the next regularly scheduled meeting is Wednesday, April 25, 2012. 9. Adjournment: Jim Quarto motioned to adjourn, seconded by Sofee Noblick, and the meeting was unanimously adjourned at 7:28 p.m. Respectfully Submitted By: Christine Averna