Tough on Blight

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By Ann DeMatteo, Assistant Metro Editor

HAMDEN — Bradley Avenue residents are upset by the overgrown grass and weeds at the former Colonial Funeral Home, and the same goes for neighbors of properties on the town’s Top 12 anti-blight list.

Linda Robertson-Matson has been pulling and sweeping away weeds in the street in front of Colonial at Bradley and Circular avenues. Weeds and tall grass circle the building and grow on lots nearby.

Similar sites can be seen at 1372 Dixwell Ave., 25 and 83 Collins St., 104 Dix St., 55 Merritt St., 17 Dest Drive, 1470 Shepard Ave., 50 Maplewood Terrace, 69 Bradley Ave., and 831 Wintergreen Ave., addresses that are on the radar of the Anti-Blight Task Force, according to Curt Balzano Leng, chief administrative officer to Mayor Scott D. Jackson.

“The town is really tired of dealing with continually blighted properties and is taking a tough stance,” Leng said of the properties. All but the Wintergreen Avenue address are vacant, according to the task force list.

Violators can face notices of violation, citations, fines, liens, foreclosures and arrest, depending on the situation and which town agency has jurisdiction, Leng said.

People on Bradley and Circular avenues have been calling about the former funeral home’s condition. According to town and state records, the property is owned by Twenty-Seven Blake Enterprises LLC, whose agent is Paul Moraski of Country Hills Road.

Leng said the town will be hiring a contractor “as soon as possible” to clean up the funeral home and parking lot. Liens will be taken out to pay for the cleanup, he said.

Moraski didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.

Robertson-Matson on Monday said she and others are concerned that if properties aren’t taken care of, they attract “crime, violence and more of a police presence.”

On July 7, Assistant Zoning Enforcement Officer Adam Zona sent anti-blight and property maintenance violation notices to Moraski, who lost his funeral home license in 2006. Both the Superior and Supreme courts rejected his appeals.

“A citation is going out this afternoon,” Zona said Monday.

Despite the town’s action, Robertson-Matson isn’t satisfied.

“It’s too slow a process. I wrote a letter to the mayor last year. Why do things take so long? You’re tired of driving by that every day.”

The town also has sent violation notices and citations to Leona Rogers Sealy of North Carolina, owner of 50 Maplewood Terrace. She has been fined $100 a day since June 30, according to Zona. Sealy couldn’t be reached.

The Planning and Zoning Department is having the planting strips on the property lines mowed and liens will be put on the property for the cost of mowing, Leng said.

Contact Ann DeMatteo at 203-789-5716. Follow her on Twitter at AnnDDeMatteo. To receive breaking news first, simply text the word nhnews to 22700. Standard msg+data rates may apply.


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