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Bid approved for Webb Avenue house demolition

5 mins read
Selectpersons, left to right, Jeff Rowe, Jeff Adams, Chair Tiffany Maiuri and John Black.
Selectpersons, left to right, Jeff Rowe, Jeff Adams, Chair Tiffany Maiuri and John Black.

WILTON – The Selectboard unanimously approved a local company’s bid to tear down a deteriorating house on Webb Avenue Tuesday evening, having previously declared it a dangerous building.

The residence in question, located at 30 Webb Avenue, has drawn complaints from local-area residents about the condition of the property and an ever-present odor associated with mold. The residence first came to the town’s attention in 2009, with new complaints in 2015 bringing the issue to the forefront. In addition to an overgrown lot, broken windows and other damage, a tree came down through the roof, leaving the interior open to the elements.

Nearby residents believe that the infiltration of moisture through the opening in the roof has allowed for the growth of mold responsible for a bad smell that permeates the neighborhood in the summer. That odor was the number one complaint of those attending a public hearing in August, with several residents saying that it interfered with their ability to utilize their own property.

Neighbors said they were concerned with the potential health risk associated with the mold, as well as animals living inside the building or on the overgrown lot. In addition to Webb Avenue residents, people from nearby Sunset and Eastern Avenue have also complained about the smell.

The property is owned by Shirley Thompson, who has not visited it in a few years. The property’s taxes are currently paid up through the mortgage holder, USDA.

Following the August public hearing, the Selectboard moved unanimously to declare the residence at 30 Webb Avenue a dangerous building, with an appropriate order being filed with the Registry of Deeds. Thompson was given 30 days to acquire an agreement with a contractor to demolish the building, with said demolition to be completed within 45 days.

As that had not occurred, Town Manager Rhonda Irish put out a request for proposals to demolish the property. The cost of the demolition could be recouped through a lien on the property.

Four companies bid on the project, with the Wilton-based Taylor Made Homes submitting the low bid of $5,650. The other three bids were in the $9,000-$10,000 range.

Per the bid specifications, Irish said, that cost does not include the disposal fees. Other potential costs could include asbestos removal, as well as having the town’s sewer and water departments cap the town lines.

In other business, two expenditures out of the town’s Comfort Inn Omnibus Municipal Tax Increment Financing District were approved at a special town meeting that led the selectboard meeting. Those in attendance approved expending $30,000 to pay a portion of the annual lease/purchase payment on the town’s 2013 Aerial Quint fire truck, as well as $15,000 to pay off a portion of the annual Waste Treatment plant’s USDA Rural Development loan.

The truck payment is the same as last year’s; town officials had previously presented a plan to pay $30,000 out of the TIF for 10 years. The total cost of the Ahrens-Fox 78-foot Aerial Quint, which replaced two other, older fire engines, was $500,000. In addition to the $300,000 contributed by the TIF, funds from the fire department’s capital equipment account, the resale of Engine 7 and the annual budget process supported the financed purchase.

The $15,000 appropriation will augment another $15,000 raised at the annual town meeting to support a series of improvements to the town’s waste treatment infrastructure. The remainder of that project’s annual bond payment will be covered by the ratepayers. The combined, $30,000 contribution has been calculated to spike the rate increase by approximately $32 annually.

The town has determined that a special town meeting vote is required to use TIF funds to pay off a loan.

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2 Comments

  1. Wow 7 years to get this taken care of.. How many more places in Wilton should be taken down? Excluding the old Fosters Mill of course, that’s a work in progress.

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