Albany demolishes Pine Hills eyesore
Floors had collapsed on long-abandoned home forcing city to respond
A dozen people stood across the street from 865 Myrtle Ave., watching as an excavator tore down the house. As the last bit of the roof came crumbling down under the crush of heavy equipment, the neighbors let out a long-awaited cheer.
“I am beyond ecstatic to see it go,” said Roxanne Storms, who lives across the street from the property. “It just created so many problems for the neighborhood.”
The single-family home has been an eyesore in the Pine Hills neighborhood for years, and abandoned for nearly 30, neighbors said. The grass was overgrown and squatters went in and out of the building. A giant ‘X’ on the front warned the dangers it posed to firefighters and the public.
The owner of the house died
several years ago and had no heirs, said Richard Lajoy, the director of the city’s Department of Buildings and Regulatory Compliance.
The property was in the process of being foreclosed when it was declared to be an imminent threat to the public’s safety, Lajoy said.
Owusu Anane, the city councilman for Albany’s 10th ward, which covers the Pine Hills neighborhood, said he had long heard complaints about the home. He said today he looked through the windows and noticed that one of the floors had collapsed because of water damage.
Lajoy said at that point the structure of the home became a safety issue and threat to surrounding homes, so the city had to tear it down.
“This is the second building in the last three months that I have been at where there has been the initial onset of water infiltration that caused a total collapse” Lajoy said.
This house had been on the department of building’s radar for sometime, Lajoy said. But it is difficult for the city to determine if a building is unsafe from the outside.
“We can’t force entry,” Lajoy said. “We can look through windows, but we can’t go inside to check it.”
Lajoy and Anane are hoping to change that.
“In my opinion it is very important for the city to be able to get access to these buildings on the interior,” Lajoy said.
Anane and Lajoy are working together to present amendments to the Vacant Building Registry.
Owners of abandoned buildings are required to register with the city. Anane and Lajoy want to make an amendment to allow the city access to do an interior inspection once a year, in the hopes of finding and addressing problems before they worsen and stop properties from having to be demolished.
“That would enable us to catch the roof leaks,” Lajoy said. “We want to look for structural problems and water infiltration.”
Anane said they hope to propose the amendments to Albany City Council in the near future.
“We want to make sure if a property is not being taken care of, if it poses a public safety hazard, that we address it in a timely manner,” Anane said. “One property like this is one too many.”