Broadway Pets is coming down.
Demolition on the building, which has remained vacant for years, was scheduled to begin last Friday, according to members of the Property Maintenance Committee.
While the former pet store is its biggest coup so far, the committee has made progress on other blighted and neglected properties, members said in the Aug. 19 meeting.
Assistant Building Inspector Bob Wentworth said the “take-down” was scheduled to begin Aug. 21, with the third floor disassembled by hand. The other two floors will face a wreckers’ ball, he said, and demolition is estimated to take a week.
Mike Fowler, director of the Derry Department of Public Works, said that police, fire and Public Works have met and explored all safety considerations.
For now, Wentworth said, the property will be filled in and leveled off.
“That is a positive outcome,” Fowler said, and Wentworth agreed, saying, “A big one.”
Police Chief Ed Garone asked about pedestrians and Wentworth said there would be a sidewalk detour.
Other “distressed properties” include the following:
• 357 Island Pond Road. Wentworth said the property is no longer in probate and the Wells Fargo mortgage company is trying to sell it.
• 213 Island Pond Road. Atty. Jonathan Boutin will petition the courts for a removal of the building under RSA 155:B. Member Al Dimmock observed, “That building has been boarded up for 14 years.
• 7 Sheldon Road. Wentworth said the owner is planning to subdivide and sell the property. “The building is still in bad shape but secured,” he said.
• 19 Elm St., former home of Fishercraft and now occupied by a tenant. The town has taken the building for taxes, Tax Collector Dawn Enwright said, and is in the process of putting out an eviction notice to the tenant and a repurchasing notice to the owner. They have until Oct. 1 to vacate the premises, she said.
Fowler said the tenant had asked for the “right to repurchase,” but as he is not the owner, he has the same rights as anybody else at public auction. The town will need to do a cost-benefit analysis on whether to tear down the building, he said.
• 6 to 8 East Broadway. The owner has cut the grass and obtained a building permit for repairs. “We’ll see how it goes,” Wentworth said.
• 102 Chester Road. The town had ordered the owner to remove the dilapidated barn by July 31, Wentworth said, but the demolition company said it was so busy it couldn’t get to it until September.
• 142 Chester Road. They could not reach the owner, Wentworth said. The building is “not in bad shape, but the windows are open and it needs to be secured,” he said.
• 58 English Range Road. One of the issues was unregistered vehicles, and Wentworth reported that at the last inspection there were four to five vehicles, all registered, on the property.
• 43 East Derry Road. All the unregistered vehicles are gone, Wentworth said, and he is asking Boutin to file a motion to dismiss the case.
• 46 Floyd Road. Wentworth said there were at least 25 unregistered motor vehicles, including dump trucks and asphalt trucks. The property is leased to a businessperson from Arlington, Mass., and the owner has issued an eviction notice, Wentworth said.
• 49A Beaver Lake Road. The building has a collapsed roof and Boutin has sent a letter to the owners.
• 305 Hampstead Road. The unregistered vehicles have been taken care of and “it is not an issue,” Wentworth said.
• 8 Aiken St. The owners have until the end of August to repair a garage roof or remove the garage.
• 64 Crystal Ave. The owner has been asked to remove a skimobile trailer covered with signs. “It hasn’t happened,” Wentworth said, and the matter will be turned over to Boutin.
• 93 Hampstead Road. The property has been purchased and the new owner is in the process of cleaning it up, Wentworth said.
The group has made progress since a Property Maintenance Ordinance was enacted earlier this year, giving Wentworth and Building Inspector Bob Mackey the “teeth” to enforce keeping up property.
“There has been a lot of activity, particularly with the downtown,” Fowler said, and he promised, “Next time we meet, there will have been drastic activity.”