City Returns to Court on Rowan Street Tear-Down

Rodney Stevenson has lived in his house on Rowan Street since he was born 39 years ago.

Next door, he remembers a candy store and after that a dress shop with about 20 women working behind sewing machines. That building at 30 Rowan St. is slated for demolition because of its delapidated condition. Last year part of the roof blew into Stevenson's yard. The roof is open to the weather, the floors are weak and the wood is soft and rotting away. Most of the windows are plywood, as are two doors. The best that can be said for it is it's fenced in, and the doors now appear to be shut. The homeless no longer live there.

Until the court actions in 2011 and this year, Stevenson said, "I hadn't seen the landlord in 20 years."

Danbury took property owner Eugene Wendel to Danbury Superior Court to have the eyesore removed once pieces started falling off in 2011. As of a reckoning made in May, Danbury's Tax Office reported the property taxes were owed since 2007 for a total of $22,473.17. It also reports, however, the water and sewer fees, plus water and sewer liens, plus water and sewer interest charges on the property stand at $155,147.75. That means, before the cost of demolition, the city is owed $177,620.92, not including any new property, sewer, water or interest fees since May.

Wendel could not be reached Wednesday for comment. Wendel previously owned the Castro Convertible building at the corner of Rowan and Balmforth. Danbury took him to court over that building, Null said, and now that corner is a neighborhood park.

The building at 30 Rowan St. is fenced in, and the front of the building was dug up by workers severing utility lines in anticipation of the demolition.

"I was talking to one of the workers, and he said it's next week," Stevenson said. Stevenson is worried the old building might have asbestos inside, and he worries for his health and his family's health.

Danbury Building Official Leo Null said the delays over the last year came from all directions, including vacations, an engineering study to see if the building could be saved and a delay to remove all utilities coming to the building. Null said on Wednesday no one has taken out a demolition permit on the building yet.

"I heard he has every intention of tearing it down," Null said, but he doesn't sound convinced. He's been hearing noises like that for years. "What I'm going to tell the judge is you've given him all this time, and if he can't take it down, the city will."

Null said if the city removes and disposes of the old building, it will lean the property for those costs, in addition to the unpaid water and sewer bills, plus interest on that debt.

Danbury Realtors have said a building lot on Rowan Street in this economic climate may have no value. A developer can't develope it and sell it, so it is a liability. The owner runs up a property tax bill without a chance to recover that money until the housing market rebounds.