Board votes to demolish building

The town is going to demolish a dilapidated building on Furnace Street, after the heirs of the owner refused to fix up the building.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20131127/NEWS02/711279948

The Springfield Select Board voted Monday night to demolish this dilapidated building at 9 Furnace Street. Photo: PHOTO BY LEN EMERYPublished November 27, 2013 in the Rutland Herald Board votes to demolish building By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD – The town is going to demolish a dilapidated building on Furnace Street, after the heirs of the owner refused to fix up the building. The Springfield Select Board voted 4-0 Monday to demolish the building at 9 Furnace Street, saying that a structural engineer had again inspected the building and had deemed it unsafe. The town agreed to award a $9,500 contract to Alva Waste Services of Springfield to demolish the large grey building and haul away the debris. The town will try to recover the money from the owner of the building. Town Attorney Stephen Ankuda said that the building hadn’t been lived in for a long time, and that the owner, Patsey “Pat” Pignato, had died earlier this summer, and that his family was not interested in fixing up the building. Pignato lived next door to the dilapidated building, Ankuda said. Pignato, 80, died Aug. 1 at a White River Junction nursing home. “It has been vacant for years,” Ankuda said. Town Manager Robert Forguites said that the town’s structural engineer, David Hindinger of Heritage Engineering of Perkinsville, had been doing follow-up inspections on some of the buildings on the town’s Top 10 list of dilapidated buildings. Some of the buildings have been repaired, and a few others have already been demolished by their owners. Of the remaining buildings on the list, the structural engineer would like to go inside two or three of the buildings before making a final determination, Forguites said. Forguites said that one large apartment house on Union Street, near Union Street School, had received some repairs and would likely not be torn down. Forguites said the $9,500 was the low quote from four firms he contacted about demolition. The town will receive a “hold harmless” sign off from the demolition company, Ankuda said. The town-owned property on the list, a house on Cottage Avenue that the town took ownership of via a tax sale, still needs additional work, Forguites said. Once that work is completed, the building will be advertised for sale. Forguites said that by state law the town is not allowed to make a profit on a tax sale property, so the town will only seek to recoup its costs. One property owner, Donald Bishop, faces a Monday deadline to finish the repairs on a small building he owns on Valley Street, Ankuda said. Ankuda said the town is concerned that the deteriorated buildings might collapse onto the public roads