{"id":5846,"date":"2015-08-17T05:29:20","date_gmt":"2015-08-17T09:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=5846"},"modified":"2015-08-17T23:42:51","modified_gmt":"2015-08-18T03:42:51","slug":"brick-to-demolish-first-abandoned-home-under-ordinance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2015\/08\/brick-to-demolish-first-abandoned-home-under-ordinance\/","title":{"rendered":"Brick to Demolish First Abandoned Home Under Ordinance"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

A home on South Beverly Drive in Brick, exposed to the elements. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Brick Township council has given the go-ahead to the demolition of a home in the Herbertsville section that will mark the first structure to be taken down under an abandoned properties ordinance passed last year.<\/p>\n

Shorebeat has closely followed the case of 126 South Beverly Drive, which was abandoned about six years ago<\/a> and has since caused neighbors grief after its roof partially caved in, raccoons and other animals began living inside, and mold inches deep appeared on its interior walls. Making matters worse, a pool has been left unattended in the backyard the entire time and residents in the neighborhood on the Manasquan River have feared a retaining wall could give way, which could lead to land instability.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A home on South Beverly Drive in Brick, exposed to the elements. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

The home has been in foreclosure for the entire time it has been abandoned. Neighbors have told Shorebeat a divorce precipitated the foreclosure and abandonment of the property. For months, attorneys for Citibank, the lender on the home, promised they would do more to maintain the property, but as of Aug. 11, only some cursory work had been completed, such as the installation of a new tarp on the open roof, township officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to take a more aggressive stance,\u201d said Mayor John Ducey. \u201cThis is the first property to make its way through the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The township set aside money in its capital budget for demolitions, Ducey said, but a lien in the amount of the demolition cost will be placed on the property which will be due back to the township before it can be resold.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear that this structure has to come down,\u201d said Charles D. Bauer, the attorney which represents the township\u2019s Property Maintenance Board, the body tasked with holding hearings on abandoned or derelict properties. The board was created under an ordinance passed last year which allows the township to utilize the provisions of a state law that permits the local government to demolish \u201ctruly abandoned\u201d properties. The board hears cases, enters orders for property owners with which to comply, and if no work is completed, a recommendation to demolish may be decided upon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly feel for the homeowners who have had to live next to this for a long time,\u201d said Daniel Newman, Brick Township\u2019s code official. \u201cIf you look at [the bank\u2019s] own engineering report, it says that it was inundated from rain leaks. They repaired a small amount of siding, cut some brush, and attempted to put a better cover on the pool, except the new cover was the wrong size and does not fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gary Smith, an attorney representing the bank \u2013 which still does not have ownership of the property \u2013 did not object to the council\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

Newman said the criteria for whether a home should be demolished encompasses many factors, including an economic one.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes to a point where the logic is that, if the value of the structure is less than the cost of doing the remediation, there\u2019s no logic to doing it,\u201d Newman said. \u201cIt\u2019s reached a point where what you would save from this structure probably would not be worth it. Everything from the top of the [foundation] block, up, probably should be removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joane Bergin, the township\u2019s business administrator, said the demolition contract for the property will likely include some restoration work which will shore up the safety of the retaining wall to protect the neighboring properties.<\/p>\n

After the demolition is completed \u2013 bids must still be solicited and awarded for the work \u2013 the township will keep tabs on the lot and, if maintenance is not performed such as mowing the lawn, the Department of Public Works will do so and place further liens on the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe end up going number one as to who gets paid first,\u201d when the property is sold, Ducey said.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Brick Township council has given the go-ahead to the demolition of a home in the Herbertsville section that will mark the first structure to be taken down under an abandoned properties ordinance passed last year. Shorebeat has closely followed the case of 126 South Beverly Drive, which was abandoned about six years ago and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[1334,24,27,1335],"class_list":["post-5846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-beverly-beach","tag-brick-nj-news","tag-herbertsville","tag-south-beverly-drive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_3864.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-1wi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}