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Once Blighted Properties in Adams Find New Life

A rowhouse at 84-92 Columbia St.  has gone through a complete interior renovation and is now being leased. The property had been left derelict when the owner pulled out all the copper piping.

ADAMS, Mass. — Blight had reached a peak in Adams in 2008, with two major property owners abandoning their land and buildings.

Code Enforcement Officer Scott Koczela brought a list of 10 of the most complicated blighted properties to the Selectmen, showing what had been occupying his time. Now 5 1/2 years later, Koczela says almost all of the run-down buildings have been rehabilitated.

"They were the ones that caused us the most problems at the time," Koczela said on Monday.

The housing market crash in 2008 exacerbated blight problems as owners dumped properties that were poor shape or condemned on the town.

Two owners in particular — Richard Doherty and Daniel Borer — caused headaches for their tenants and town officials by failing to maintain their buildings or pay taxes, or just walking away from the problems.

Health officials took aim at blighted properties and were stretched to the extent of their abilities — sometimes bringing in an outside party to manage the property.

Since then, the town has employed an array of strategies to reduce blight and Koczela said the town is making headway, slowly but surely.

"We are definitely making progress with blight," Koczela said. "Our big thing right now is mostly small cases."

A five-unit rowhouse on Columbia Street took it to an extreme. The former mill-worker housing at 84-92 Columbia St. had been abandoned and exposed to the elements. Borer had reportedly pulled all the copper piping out.

The town tracked down Borer, and cited him to at least stabilize it. There was no response. That building and several others owned by Borer (with his mother, Carol Borer) were placed in receivership, with the court putting Stockbridge attorney Douglas Rose in charge of them for the next year to bring them up to code or sell them.

Developer Stephen Stenson purchased the 1840 rowhouse last November as Braytonville Properties LLC and remodeled it; new tenants moved in two weeks ago.

"The building had been abandoned for 10 to 15 years," Stenson said last Friday. The developer has taken on a number of apartment and commercial buildings in North Berkshire, including the Mausert Block on Park Street. "It needed a lot of work. We didn't trust the outside walls."

Not only had the copper been removed, the insulation and wiring had been taken out as well. Contractors spent months renovating the building, including installing a new roof and windows — a project nearing almost a half-million dollars. The three-bedroom townhouses are now fully leased and the town no longer has to be ashamed of the property that faces the planned extension of the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail.

"It's an old building with a brand-new inside," Stenson said. "It is really great for families."

Koczela calls that project a win. But that isn't the only "win" from the 2008 blight list. He hasn't had to go back to a property at 2 Grove St. since its been renovated. The same can be said for 32 Willow St., which has been renovated and resold. Of the 10 buildings presented to the Board of Selectmen five years ago, only three continue to be a nuisance.

Getting those "wins" isn't an easy task and for every success story, another complaint comes across Koczela's desk. Nonetheless, the town continues to take a proactive approach to blight. According to attorney Lance Chavin of Pittsfield, who is called in to handle the more difficult cases in Adams, the town takes about 100 properties to court each year and only about a quarter of those come to Chavin. 

"The town of Adams does take a proactive approach to blighted buildings," Chavin said. "I wish some of the other towns would follow their example."

A unit at the Columbia Street rowhouse before and after renovations.

"Finding the responsible owners and getting them to fix the problem is the biggest problem we have," Koczela said.

Property owners who are cited and fail to fix their properties are taken to court. If the issue grows, that's when Chavin is brought in.

"By the time it gets to me, it is because the code enforcement officer has extinguished his remedies," Chavin said.

The first focus for Chavin is to keep it out of the court system. He approaches the owners and attempts to convince them to clean up the property on their own instead of being forced to pay court fees.

"The first attempt is always outside of court," Chavin said. "If it can be handled outside of the court system it's much easier than inside."

Sometimes that fails like a case Chavin took over in 2011, a case the town had spent years fighting. The owner believed her land was cloistered, and refused to clean it up.

"I called her on her bluff. I called the Springfield Diocese," Chavin said, and it turned out the woman had applied but was never approved.

That changed the conversation and months later he was back in court when the town was given approval to clean it up for her. She didn't want the town on her property so she cleaned it up herself and turned a falling down garage into a studio apartment.

"She didn't want us on her property so she cleaned it for us. After 30 years she cleaned it," Chavin said.

For Chavin he has a few options — first tries to convince the owner to do it themselves and if that fails he asks a judge to give the town control of the land. If the town is given the OK, Koczela dips into the Board of Health's enforcement budget to do the work. From there the bill is tacked onto the property as a lien. Koczela says when the lien is paid, it goes back into the general fund and the town just about breaks even each year.

Even when ordered by a court, some property owners will continue to disobey the orders. Koczela said on one occasion the court issued a contempt of court order and the owner would have been arrested if the property wasn't fixed. Koczela said after that notice went out, workers were on the property until late at night fixing the issues.

Meanwhile, the town has other ways to fix properties that don't pose a health hazard. It applies annually for federal funding to renovate apartments downtown, or can take properties for back taxes.

What town officials want though, is for people like Stenson to take control of blighted properties, fix them up and get them back on the tax rolls. Koczela goes so far as to work with potential buyers of blighted properties and show them what is needed to upgrade them.

"As long as it is not a danger to the public and it is secure, we're fine with it," he said.

Blighted Properties

Address	Status	Taxes	Conditions in 2008	2013 Update
11 Lime St.	Unoccupied	$2,914.29	Storage building, unsound, roof partially collapsed, unsecured, neighborhood hazard	The town took the property to court and the owner tore the structure down and cleaned up the site.
17-23 Spring St.	Condemned	$1,187.21	One commercial, three residential units, code violations, owner is reported doing work inside but no permits pulled	The property was recently sold and interior renovations have begun.
2 Grove St.	Foreclosed; Unoccupied	None	Two-family, numerous code violations, attached two-car garage is unsound	The garage has been removed and the main building has been renovated.
62 Summer St.	Condemned	None	Commercial space, unmaintained, dumping ground, potential hazard	The property continues to be a nuisance but there is a potential buyer.
92 Summer St.	Unoccupied	$5042.52	One commercial, three residential units; outbuildings unsound, main building in disrepair and damaged by vandals	The town used grant funding to demolish the structure behind the building and turned it into a parking lot. The main building is set to be rehabilitated with grant funding.
58-60 Summer St.	Condemned	$1378.69	One commercial, three residential units, requires extensive repairs on interior and exterior	This property was auctioned off but the new owners were unable to rehabilitate it. It is now back on the market and continues to be a nuisance.
60 Grove St.	Condemned	None	Four residential units, interior open to elements, structural integrity  questionable	The building has been boarded up and secured and the town will soon be taking further action soon.
32 Willow St.	Posted by Building Department as an unsafe structure	$13,691.04	Single-family, open to elements and unauthorized access neighborhood hazard	The town took the property for back taxes and it has since been renovated and resold.
121 Summer St.	Condemned	None	One commercial space, walls and ceilings opened to elements, structure requires extensive rehabilitation	The building is secured and no longer poses a public health hazard but still remains a blighted property.
84 Columbia St.	Abandoned project	$197.37	Five-unit rental property, open to elements and unauthorized access	The town used receivership for this property and it has since been sold and renovated. It is now fully leased.

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