Boarding House to Get 3 Months to Shape Up

The City Council is scheduled to take up a proposed three-month permit for the Brewster Street Boarding House on Monday night that would give the property owner three months to get its house in order.

If approved by the council, Brian Hogan, owner of the property located at 21 Brewster St., would have three months to meet the following conditions:

• Extend the current permit by three months with an inspection and report back on the progress made at the facility.
• Require full-time management of the facility where said firm would have the ability to respond to municipal inquiries or requests 24/7.
• Integrate pet management to be maintained on a monthly basis or more if needed with monthly reports submitted to the city Health Department.
• Require all common floors to be non-porous and non-absorbent with cleanable surfaces.
• Soiled and infested bedding shall be disposed of and not re-used.
• Corrections of all deficiencies from the annual inspection prior to permit issuance.
• Permittee agrees to allow unannounced inspections of all common areas of the property and to allow similar inspections of tenant rooms with the permission of tenants.
• Permittee agrees that any failure to comply with these conditions after a reasonable cure period is adequate grounds for the termination of the permit.  

During a work session held on Feb. 5, councilors and city officials noted the city has had difficulties with making Hogan comply with the city's health and building codes for 17 years. City Attorney Robert Sullivan said that it wasn't until the city brought a lawsuit against the property owner in 2006 for non compliance that the property owner agreed to make $200,000 of improvements.

Portsmouth Police have also had their share of calls in the past year at 21 Brewster St.

On July 20, police discovered the remains of a boarding house resident who had died in his room. That incident led to another health code investigation. , Nicholas Durling, 30, who made a device that looked like an explosive that he had left in the hallway outside of his apartment. 

The Seacoast Emergency Response Team and the State Police Bomb Squad were called to the scene. The neighborhood was evacuated by Portsmouth Police and Portsmouth firefighters, but police later determined the device didn't contain any explosives.

The City Council's meeting on Monday begins at 7 p.m.