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This abandoned Fourth Street multifamily has been subject to break-ins despite being secured. The Board of Health has voted to condemn the structure for demolition.
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This four-bedroom single-family home as been vacant since 2018.

Pittsfield BOH Condemns Two Homes

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Two more Pittsfield homes have been condemned.

The Board of Health voted Wednesday to condemn 86 John St. and 224 Fourth St. It came with a pang of sadness about demolishing homes during a housing crisis and a conversation about prevention.

"I would think many years ago this property had flowers in front of it," Chair Roberta Elliott said about the John Street home. "It was not like this."

Another member said it feels like capital punishment to the properties.

Both homes have no owner or heir who wants to take responsibility for them. The city has 43 open condemnation orders — about 20 residential.

"The condemnation can be as simple as no running water, no electricity," Code Enforcement Office Andrew Gagnon said. "So it is a spectrum of severity."

The four-bedroom John Street property has been sitting since 2018 and the Fourth Street multifamily has been subject to break-ins despite being secured and deemed unsafe by the Fire Department.

"It's unfortunate that so many properties on John Street have had to meet the wrecking ball," Gagnon said.

"But in a case like this, it seems it would be more money to get it back up to code than what it could potentially be worth."

Director of Public Health Andy Cambi reported that the city is attempting to begin a receivership program for vacant buildings. According to Mass General Law Chapter 111, Section 1271, if a receiver is appointed they can bring the property to sanitary code and repair it.


"We want to be able to kind of get in there with our city solicitor and see if we can manage a receivership program, meaning that we have the court appoint a vendor to address an immediate need," he said.

He explained that the city provides potential buyers with a vacant buildings list but, unfortunately, people usually walk away because of their condition.

Board member David Pill asked if the lawns could be maintained after properties are abandoned or condemned, speculating that they might be more appealing to investors if overgrowth was cleared.

"I'll definitely speak on behalf of the board and our department to say that from our interest that it would be ideal to have a schedule for city crews to be able to address supplemental growth on properties that have blight," Cambi said.

"And it might help make it more appealing to investors if there's maintenance on it."

The city has also looked into updating its ordinance to allow cleanup on blighted properties.

Elliott added that a blighted property sitting there for many years doesn't help anyone. She asked what the city was doing about properties teetering on the edge of being condemned.

"I think we've always talked with other departments about the tax taking and being more proactive with that because essentially, that's really the only way that the city can take ownership of it," Cambi said, explaining that the properties become complicated when there are no owners.

Elliott recognized this is a hard job and it is frustrating to see condemnations come through when the housing stock is so limited.  

"It's a very complicated problem," she said. "I hate to be at the point where our only option is to condemn and demolish. It feels like that's the only option we have here."


Tags: blight,   BOH,   demolition,   

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Letter: Is the Select Board Listening to Dalton Voters?

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

A reasonable expectation by the people of a community is that their Select Board rises above personal preference and represents the collective interests of the community. On Tuesday night [Nov. 12], what occurred is reason for concern that might not be true in Dalton.

This all began when a Select Board member submitted his resignation effective Oct. 1 to the Town Clerk. Wishing to fill the vacated Select Board seat, in good faith I followed the state law, prepared a petition, and collected the required 200-plus signatures of which the Town Clerk certified 223. The Town Manager, who already had a copy of the Select Board member's resignation, was notified of the certified petitions the following day. All required steps had been completed.

Or had they? At the Oct. 9 Select Board meeting when Board members discussed the submitted petition, there was no mention about how they were informed of the petition or that they had not seen the resignation letter. Then a month later at the Nov. 12 Select Board meeting we learn that providing the resignation letter and certified petitions to the Town Manager was insufficient. However, by informing the Town Manager back in October the Select Board had been informed. Thus, the contentions raised at the Nov. 12 meeting by John Boyle seem like a thinly veiled attempt to delay a decision until the end of January deadline to have a special election has passed.

If this is happening with the Special Election, can we realistically hope that the present Board will listen to the call by residents to halt the rapid increases in spending and our taxes that have been occurring the last few years and pass a level-funded budget for next year, or to not harness the taxpayers in town with the majority of the cost for a new police station? I am sure these issues are of concern to many in town. However, to make a change many people need to speak up.

Please reach out to a Select Board member and let them know you are concerned and want the Special Election issue addressed and finalized at their Nov. 25 meeting.

Robert E.W. Collins
Dalton, Mass.

 

 

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