Derby officials said their battle against blight scored another victory Monday with the destruction of a long-blighted house at 350 Derby Ave.
The property had been on the city’s blight list since 2011. Properties on the blight list are subject to $100-a-day fines.
There were several attempts over the years between the owner and the Board of Aldermen to work out a compromise over the blight liens on the property, which totaled more than $32,000 in 2012, putting the property among the top 10 of the city’s “most blighted buildings.”
Carlo Sarmiento, the city’s building official, said the foundation was crumbling and that the structure posed a danger to the public. Sarmiento said he used state law to force a teardown.
“This is coming down by state building code, article 116,” Sarmiento said Monday morning as an excavator ate away the old home’s roof.
Sarmiento was referencing a section of law that allows emergency measures to be taken down if a structure is in danger of collapse.
Sarmiento said the bill for the demolition will be paid for by the city, but another lien will be placed on the property preventing it from being sold until Derby gets its demo money back.
Public records show the two-story home was built in 1874. Its owner is listed as “350 Derby Avenue, LLC.”
It was the boyhood home of Derby wrestling coach Walter “Buster” Jadach, as noted in this video from WTNH:
A record from the secretary of state list the partners in that LLC as Glen Francoeor Sr., Glen Francoeor, Jr. and Wayne Lyden.
The limited liability company owes Derby $16,335 in real estate taxes and $1,652 in sewer taxes, according to the Derby tax collector’s office.
There property collected $121,000 in blight fines.
F. Pepe Construction of Derby was hired to do the demo work and is scheduled to be paid $34,871.
This is the second blighted house this year to be demolished on Derby Avenue.
The story continues after the photo gallery.
In June, the city pressured the owner of a fire-damaged rental property at 196 Derby Ave. to tear down the long-abandoned property.
Alderman Carmen DiCenso is the chairman of the Aldermen’s blight subcommittee.
He was on a sidewalk Monday morning watching a crew take down 350 Derby Ave.
DiCenso said the decision to demo the building was not made lightly.
“We gave the gentlemen many opportunities to take care of the problems,” DiCenso said.
The old house was in very bad shape.
“The problem was that the foundation was falling apart,” DiCenso said. “Stones were coming out of the foundation.”
The future of the property remains unclear. DiCenso referred “what’s next?” questions to the city’s corporation counsel.
“If the property becomes ours, then we have the right to sell it,” he said.
In related blight-busting news, the Derby Board of Aldermen Sept. 25 adopted a “clean and lien” ordinance.
If gives the city the power to clean up the exterior of badly blighted properties — and sets up a due process system that allows property owners a chance to appeal and prevent the cleanup.
It is based on an ordinance that was developed in Ansonia. Click here to read about Ansonia’s law.
DiCenso said a possible candidate for “clean and lien” could be the former Dworkin Chevrolet, which is abandoned and has become a popular dumping ground off Seymour Avenue.
“We have vacant properties in town, like Dworkin Chevrolet. Now we’ll send them a notice and if they don’t clean the property it gives us the right to hire someone or send city workers to clean it. And then we lien the property,” DiCenso said.
DiCenso said getting aggressive on blight has been a priority of Mayor Anita Dugatto’s administration.
“Listen, I’m born and raised in this town. I’m 64 years old,” DiCenso said. “We want Derby to be what it once was. I know we’ll probably never get there, but we can sure try.”
