Board Wants Action On Derelict Bldg.
City officials are being urged by Community Board 5 to take action to stabilize a vacant multi-family home in Ridgewood which reportedly has fallen into disrepair and poses a safety hazard to neighbors.
The Times Newsweekly was pro vided with a letter sent last Thursday, Apr. 5, by District Manager Gary Giordano to Ira Gluckman, Queens borough commissioner for the De partment of Buildings, requesting that the agency address an “emergency condition” at the vacant dwelling lo cated at 71 07 Fresh Pond Rd.
Giordano stated that a resident liv ing adjacent to the building has reached out to Board 5 on two separate occasions in recent weeks regarding squalid conditions at the abandoned building. Reportedly, part of a rear wall of the structure has been compromised.
It is also believed that the structure is infested with rodents which have subsequently spread into adjoining buildings, the district manager told this paper in a phone interview.
In his letter to Gluckman, Giordano pointed out that the board contacted the DOB previously and were told that “the owner of record has not taken any action to remedy the problem. The [DOB] may forward the case to HPD (Department of Housing Preservation and Development) to contract the work at the owner’s expense.”
“The property is reportedly in disrepair and poses a danger to the area surrounding it,” Giordano told Gluckman in the Apr. 5 letter. “In addition, the Health Department is unable to get in there to bait for the rodent situation that has developed in the building. The surrounding community is suffering due to the deplorable conditions of this building.”
According to the DOB’s online database, agency inspectors have issued several violations to the building’s owner-listed as Joseph Alessandro-since the beginning of the year.
On Mar. 27, an inspector issued a violation to the property owner after observing that the building had missing windows, bricks and a rear door. The inspector also observed that the interior of the building was also in disrepair.
Additionally, the DOB database indicated that the property owner has several unresolved Environmental Control Board (ECB) penalties for various violations totalling $7,500.
The HPD’s online database also indicated that the Fresh Pond Road property has 78 open violations issued between 2003 and 2008. Among the most serious problems cited by the agency included broken or defective glass panes, inadequate lighting, missing locks on the vestibule door and obstructions at egresses.
The Times Newsweekly contacted the DOB seeking further comment; a spokesperson stated that the HPD is currently in the process of working to seal up the building. Netting will also be installed on the façade to protect neighboring properties from falling debris.
The DOB spokesperson added that there are no structural integrity issues to adjacent properties resulting from the vacant building’s condition.
