The city had filed blight liens against the dilapidated one-family home at 147 Jewett St., which had been abandoned by its owners, the city said in a prepared statement.
“The City moved to take the necessary steps to condemn, remediate and demolish the structure due to an imminent danger of collapse,” the statement said.
The demolition was performed by Terryville-based Ludlow Associates for about $17,850, the lowest of five bids submitted to the city for the work.
The cost of the work will be put on a blight lien against the property.
In the statement, Mayor David Cassetti lauded revisions to the city’s blight law enacted after he took office in 2013 that allows the city to “clean and lien” blighted properties.
Click here to read a previous story about the law.
“I want the residents of Ansonia to be proud of where they live and I want visitors to see a community that cares about its health and appearance,” Cassetti said in the statement.
According to the city, more than 100 properties have been cleaned since the new law went into effect.
“Fees recouped from liens placed on abandoned, blighted or dilapidated structures totaling almost $100,000 have been repurposed by our Blight Office and used for continued cleanup efforts, including activities such as mowing overgrown lawns, removing abandoned cars and trucks from properties and today a portion of those funds has been used to demolish an unsafe structure on Jewett Street,” the statement said.
John Marini, the city’s corporation counsel and the author of the new blight law, said the new regs hold property owners accountable.
“The new Anti-Blight law gives enforcement officials the tools to get results,” Marini said. “In the past, a property such as 147 Jewett St. would be assessed with a daily fine, perhaps for years on end, while neighbors continued to live with an unsafe, blighted eyesore on their street,” he said.
Ansonia’s Blight Enforcement team consists of Land Use Administrator Ronda Porrini and Enforcement Officer David Blackwell Sr.
Porrini encouraged residents to report blight to City Hall. Click here for the Land Use department’s home page on the city’s website.
The city is also working developing a smartphone app to streamline the process for residents to do so.
