WEST LEBANON — City fire officials have ordered an absentee property owner to demolish a two-story building on Route 10 that’s been allowed to deteriorate and partially collapse.
The multifamily home at 387 N. Main St. is “unsafe” and now risks injuring anyone who ventures inside, Fire Chief Chris Christopoulos said on Monday.
“We don’t know what the integrity of the building or balance of the building is,” he said, adding the structure could be “one heavy, wet snowfall” away from coming down.
Christopoulos sent a letter in early December deeming the home a “hazardous building” and giving property owner William Misha Rosoff 30 days to tear it down. But the structure is still standing, leading the fire department to turn to Lebanon’s City Council for help.
Councilors will decide on Wednesday whether to give Rosoff another 30 days. If he fails to demolish the building, the city could then seek a court order.
“We’re hoping we don’t get to that point,” Christopoulos said.
Rosoff, a 2000 Dartmouth graduate who lives in Bali, said on Monday he intends to respect the city order and is working to tear the building down “soon.”
He purchased the 1.8-acre property across the street from the James W. Campion Rink for $250,000in 2001. It’s now assessed at $79,600, according to city records.
Rosoff was in Lebanon in late July to oversee crews remove trees and brush. He also filed for a demolition permit in early December and received it last week.
Talks to demolish the building date back years.
Carmela Hennessy, the city’s now-retired codes director, wrote to Rosoff in 2013 that the city “would be happy to assist you in obtaining a demolition permit for removal of this dilapidated structure.”
The fire department engaged Rosoff to “mitigate the hazardous state of the building” in March, officials wrote this month in a memo to city councilors. However, contact with the property owner is “hit or miss,” Christopoulos said.
“We have correspondence with him dating back a year now,” the fire chief said. “He’s given us timelines to rectify it” but hasn’t followed through.
Rosoff declined on Monday to say why the building hasn’t been demolished.
Doing so would cost about $20,000, according to the demolition permit, and would require the removal of asbestos.
The building’s roof, roof sealer and linoleum floors tested positive for the hazardous material, according to a September report issued by Michael Mazzagila, of the Bedford, N.H.-based Alpha Asbestos Abatement.
Mazzagila observed the building’s ceiling had collapsed and said the upper floors “are actually not safe to walk on.”
On Monday, the structure’s entire north side appeared to be collapsing, and the doors and windows were boarded up. An orange safety fence surrounded the site and a “danger” sign could be seen posted on the front door.
News of the possible demolition was welcome by Diane Doe, who recently moved into a home on nearby Richardson Place.
The building has long been considered an eyesore by neighbors.
“I’ve heard it’s coming down, and it’s great that the city is going ahead with approving that,” she said.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.
CLARIFICATION
William Misha Rosoff, who owns a dilap idated building on Route 10 in Lebanon, signed paperwork to demolish the building in October but did not file it with the city until early December. An earlier version of this story was unclear on that point.