Springfield adds to its unsafe building hit list

The Springfield Select Board has expanded its original 2013 list to include properties on Furnace Street, Park Street and Valley Street.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150507/NEWS02/705079905

Springfield adds to its unsafe building hit list By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer | May 07,2015 SPRINGFIELD — The town is ready to tackle more dilapidated buildings. The Springfield Select Board has expanded its original 2013 list to include properties on Furnace Street, Park Street and Valley Street. Town Manager Tom Yennerell said there are only three properties remaining unresolved on the original 2013 list, and one of those, at 103 Clinton St., is slated for an appeal hearing Monday. Another home, Yennerell said, at 129 Tarbell Road, has been given a reprieve until July 30, and the demolition of a porch at 42-44 Union St. is still unresolved. Yennerell said the fire-damaged building at 188 Wall St. owned by Don Bishop has been appealed, denied and appealed again, this time to Windsor Superior Court in Woodstock. Yennerell proposed additional properties be added to the list, which under the town ordinance for dilapidated buildings, triggers a formal engineer’s review of the property, along with the town’s health officer and fire chief. After a lengthy discussion, the board agreed to have engineering reviews of 69 Park St., 15 Furnace St. and 23 Valley St. Resident Dick Andrews, who said he represents the Union-Park Street Association, said his organization appreciated the “diligence” of the town in tackling the unsafe and dilapidated properties in town. “I encourage you to continue,” Andrews said. Fire Chief Russell Thompson, who cedes his normal health officer duties to Deputy Chief Scott Richardson for the review process, said the house at 69 Park St., which had been used last year by his department for a training exercise, needs to be demolished or fixed. “Four years ago, the owners planned on taking it down,” Thompson said. The building is next to the historic Spindler House, at the corner of Park and Pearl streets, and was recently renovated. The two buildings are now owned by the developers of One Hundred River Street, the old Fellows Gear Shaper complex, the fire chief said. The owners are now saying that the front part of the building is still sound, Thompson said. “We should keep some kind of leverage,” he said, noting that a portion of the roof had been “open” during the winter, even though the owners have renovation plans. Thompson said that 32 Valley St., a large apartment building, had been condemned for human habitation by the state a few years ago, and its roof has been tarped for about that length. The fire chief said he believed there was probably a significant mold problem in the building at this point, but ownership of the building is tied up in an estate, and the first stages of foreclosure. Thompson asked the board to hold off on adding that building to the list until he attempts to contact the owner and gain entrance to the building. The manager said while 57-59 Wall Street appears to be dilapidated, it is structurally sound and the new owner is making progress with renovations. Yennerell said the town now owned 87-89 Chester Road through a tax sale, but he said while it had been viewed as an eyesore in the past, he didn’t know whether it was structurally sound. Yennerell noted the $100,000 that voters authorized in March on Town Meeting Day to help with the demolition of unsafe buildings won’t be available until July 1. The town plans to place liens on the properties for any work the town does on the properties, including demolition.