Pittsfield Health Board Orders Demo of Charred Multifamily
PITTSFIELD, Mass. The Board of Health on Wednesday voted to demolish a condemned multifamily that was destroyed by a fire last year.
The panel voted to order a demolition for 91 to 93 Orchard Street, which suffered a two-alarm structure fire on July 4, 2022, that charred the front porch and front portion of the home. It was condemned a few days later.
Director of Public Health Andy Cambi explained that the department identifies properties with code violations that impair health and safety as condemned and after a year, they have the option to bring the property to demolish.
"We do that in most cases where there are no interested parties in the dwelling," he said, adding that it also ordered to be demolished if it becomes a public hazard.
Last month, neighbors came forward with complaints about rats, and the property was cited as a possible source. Upon investigation, there were no active burroughs but it still could have been possible, which caused the department to recommend demolition.
The owner of the property is currently in a large portfolio foreclosure and has not been responsive.
The order provides 90 days to take down the property and if the owner does not comply, it will have to go to court.
"I think we would pursue court action with this specific property," Cambi said. "Just because the owner, we do believe that they have the resources."
There is also a lender that is involved and is included in the order.
"I just think it's helpful for the public to know that because neighbors that are impacted, which is part of the reason the Health Department got involved," member Brad Gordon said. "It’s helpful for them to know that it's not that it's forgotten but there's a timeline in terms of addressing."
In other news, the BOH agreed to form a working group in collaboration with the City Council and the Conservation Commission to have a united front on mosquito control. Cambi will go to the council and make the request.
The topic has been a back-and-forth disagreement between the council and the board for a couple of years.
Mosquito spraying was discontinued in 2021 and after six mosquitos tested positive for West Nile virus this summer, the board requested that it be resumed and the council did not agree.
"I think it was a relatively close vote. I don't know if that's relevant or not," Gordon said. "But I think what's more relevant is that if we again, go through this process as a board, even with involving the Conservation Commission, my concern is that we'll end up in a similar pattern again and I think that would be unfortunate and it also would be a waste of everyone's time."
The group would be subject to the open meeting law, required to have public meetings, and would get to work on a mosquito control plan for the spring.
Gordon pointed out that the council has the power to decide on funding and accepting the plan and said that they should be involved.
"We should be able to hopefully make a better effort to communicate, which I think was strikingly absent at the council meeting here where people were bringing up issues that I felt we had evaluated very carefully to a completely different conclusion based on the data we were looking at," member Dr. Jeffrey Leppo said.
"Which is not to say people can't disagree, but I think we ought to be able to agree what's good, what's in the public interest."
Gordon hopes that they can have a group together shortly after the new year in preparation for mosquito season.
"To me, that's government at its best when you take advantage of the resources that you have, and those resources work together, educate the public, and also, then come up with solutions based on best practices in science," he said.
Tags: demolition,
