Derby carved another notch in its anti-blight list as a dilapidated building at 67 – 71 Minerva St. hit the ground Thursday.
The city, through the Board of Aldermen and the city’s building department, had been pressuring the property owner to do something about the property for months.
Late last year the Aldermen received a letter from an engineer saying the building wasn’t safe because it had been exposed to the elements, since a good portion of the building was missing exterior walls.
The same letter said the building’s roof rafters and floor supports were “severely compromised.”
Alderman Carmen DiCenso has been railing against the condition of the building for months, saying he was afraid a child could wander onto the property and get hit by falling debris.
The Aldermen Dec. 18 voted to take “all appropriate” measures to protect the public from the property.
In addition, they directed Derby building official Carlo Sarmiento to pursue all avenues to get the building down.
“Once we developed a blight committee, that property was one of our targets, to get that down,” said Alderman Carmen DiCenso, the chairman of the blight committee, which is a subcommittee of the Board of Aldermen.
Broadbridge Hill Development, LLC owns the property. Local developer John Guedes is a part of that company and has been the person Derby officials have talked to about the property.
There have been several redevelopment ideas floated there, but none have come to fruition.
Sarmiento said the property owner is paying for the teardown. City officials, Guedes and Judith Dicine, the supervisory assistant state’s attorney on housing matters, met recently to talk about the property to make sure any safety issues were addressed.
Dicine was “overseeing the orders that were in place,” Sarmiento said. The orders were from Derby telling Guedes to tear down the property.
“This wasn’t a witch hunt. We weren’t picking on anyone. This is about safety,” Sarmiento said.
A steel garage-type structure will remain standing on the property.
In an email, Guedes indicated the property’s future is uncertain.
“We will see after the buildings are demo’d what we can do with what is left,” Guedes said.
The developer said he is trying to get the assessment on the property lowered, given its condition.
The Minerva Street property is the third Derby eyesore to come down since June 2014. The teardowns included 196 Derby Ave. and 350 Derby Ave.
The city fronted the money for the teardown at 350 Derby Ave., and was to place a lien on the property in the hopes of getting the money back.