When the new Walgreen’s opens in November, Lee Heller won’t be one of its customers.
Heller said she would be seeking legal action against a Torrington company that did the blasting for the new plaza off Old Drive. Her house on George Street is behind the project. She alleges that the blasting caused cracks in the water main leading to her home and to her home’s foundation.
She said the cracks are so bad that she can see the outdoors from inside the house, a brick Cape. She has spent more than $6,000 so far to fix the damage and has now hired a lawyer to recoup her losses and fix the remaining damage. Heller said she has “been forced” to hire home inspectors and structural engineers, “to prove my case.’’
Alex Budzinski owner of Housatonic Wire, at 109 River St., also claims the blasting did damage, saying a huge boulder fell between two waterfalls behind his building.
However, officials from Vets Explosives of Torrington, the company that did the blasting for Blakeman Construction of Shelton, said both claims were checked out and denied by the company’s insurance carrier.
Daryl Falk, vice-president of Vets Explosives, said Friday that the company did pre-blast surveys of the properties around the proposed plaza before any work was done. The complaints from Heller and Budzinski were reviewed by his insurance carrier, who did a complete inspection. Based on the inspection the claims were denied, Falk said.
“Before we do any work, we do surveys and take pictures and do our best to work with all of the neighbors involved,’’ Falk said. He said the blasting was done within laws governing blasting.
But Budzinski and Heller believe that the company should honor their claims. Budzinski said the chunk of rock that fell onto his property and into a section of Little River, was “like a giant meteor falling,’’ and said it’s as “big as two Jeeps.’’
He said he wants the giant rock removed because he is in the process of selling his property to a developer who will turn it into a commercial/residential development. The large section of rock is in the river next to Route 67 and is directly across from the new Walgreen’s Plaza.
“That rock was there for a million years until blasting started,’’ Budzinski said. “Now it’s in the river and will damage the beauty of the river for generations to come if it’s not taken out of there,’’ he said.
Heller said she’s lived in her house for 25 years and had never had any problems with it until the work began on the plaza. She said since her claim was denied by Vets, she has no other choice but to seek legal action.
The new, 14,820 square-foot Walgreen’s, meanwhile, is scheduled to open sometime in November.
