A New Canaan homeowner is facing $10,000 in fines after building officials found Friday that his 1829-built home on Forest Street has run afoul of the town’s blight ordinance.
74 Forest St. in New Canaan, photo taken May 21, 2015. Credit: Michael Dinan
The multi-family home at 74 Forest St.’s roof is deteriorating and no longer performing its function, garbage and debris can be seen inside a garage when its door is open, paint is peeling from the porch and other areas of the home’s exterior and overgrown shrubbery and an unkempt yard are visible—all from either the public way or adjoining properties, Chief Building Official Brian Platz said during a citation hearing on the matter.
“The blight complaints that I have received have been over the course of three-and-a-half years and from several of the neighbors, so this has been ongoing for quite some time,” Platz said during the hearing, held in the conference room of the building department’s offices in Irwin Park. “In my opinion, it absolutely meets several definitions of blight.”
74 Forest St. in New Canaan. Photo courtesy of the New Canaan Building Department
Hearing officer David Hunt of New Canaan reviewed each piece of evidence presented by Platz, agreed with the building official’s assessment and approved a fine of $100 per day backdated to Feb. 13 ($9,800 total, as of Friday), when a Citation of Violation had been sent via certified mail to the homeowner.
That individual—a Greenwich man, according to town tax records—did not attend the hearing. Neither did his lawyer, Donald Pitofsky of New York-based Schwartzman, Garelik, Walker & Troy. Pitofsky could not immediately be reached for comment.
Also in attendance at the hearing were Town Clerk Claudia Weber, who swore in those present, and attorney Gail Kelly of Berchem, Moses & Devlin’s Westport office, representing the town.
Photo of a rat in a toilet, forwarded by a tenant to the chief building official of New Canaan. Photo courtesy of the New Canaan Building Department
New Canaan’s blight ordinance is outlined in Section 7A of the Town Code. Blight itself is defined as “Any condition or combination of conditions in public view upon any residential premises that tends to devalue real estate, or that is a negative influence upon the neighborhood or upon any neighbor’s use and enjoyment of his or her own property, due to, characterized by, or reflective of neglect, decay, deterioration, disrepair, rotting, overgrowth, infestation, dilapidation, or failure to maintain.”
74 Forest St. in New Canaan. Photo courtesy of the New Canaan Building Department
Under Section 7A-3, it’s the job of property owners to maintain the exterior of structures and grounds, and tenants or occupants of residences must “refrain from creating or maintaining blight.”
Multiple individuals live at 74 Forest St., Platz said, though it isn’t clear just how many. One photograph supplied to Platz by a resident showed a rat in a toilet, though because the chief building official did not take the photograph himself, he’s unable to determine whether the rat was in fact discovered in a bathroom at the Forest Street residence.
The home itself, which sits on .3 acres, had been purchased for $725,000 in September 2006 by the current owner, tax records show. That same month, an adjacent property at 80 Forest St. which would come to the same owner, was purchased for $775,000, tax records show. The second property, at number 80, sold earlier this month for $450,000, tax records show.
74 Forest St. in New Canaan. Photo courtesy of the New Canaan Building Department
The photographic evidence of blight presented by Platz was from photos taken just two days prior to the hearing, he said.
Hunt said at the outset of the hearing that under normal circumstances, the party facing a citation would have an opportunity to rebut the case presented by the town. Though the homeowner was not in attendance, Hunt asked Platz to demonstrate why the citation was issued and just what evidence he found that constitutes blight.
Kelly asked for (and received) clarification that the homeowner was in fact notified of the hearing. Platz said an initial notice of violation had been sent July 2, 2014, and that the Feb. 13 citation of violation was sent via certified mail and with a return receipt.
“It seems very clear that all of those steps have been properly followed, and the owner was notified as was the owner’s attorney notified of this hearing, and we heard nothing in response that they were or were not intending to be present,” Hunt said.
Do we have an ordinance that allows the town to go into the building and make required repairs, then put a lien on the property for that amount?
We have a similar situation at 1053 Silvermine Rd that we have brought to the attention of town officials including Mr Platz and Mr Mallozzi.
A dumpster has been sitting on the front lawn since 1996 , the issuance date of the building permit, in addition to a derelict house with mold, debris, and boarded up windows We continue to seek action to protect our real estate values and the beauty of this historical area. However, no such action as reported here has been taken.
Another home on forest not far from this one but across the street looks rundown too
These properties were owned by my Godparents & their son. It so sad to see how they let the properties go. They always took care of both, inside and out. There is no more history left in NC and that breaks my heart to see everything being torn down to make way for “greediness” by the builders.