NAUGATUCK — The borough is turning to a Bridgeport-based company to demolish a house on Walnut Street after the original company awarded the work breached the contract.
Ocean Trace Demolition of Watertown was awarded a $19,440 contract last June to raze the home at 146 Walnut St. In January, Director of Public Works James Stewart said the company hadn’t done any work and officials couldn’t get a hold of company representatives.
On Jan. 20, Stewart sent a letter to Ocean Trace informing the company that it had five days before the contract would be voided. Last week, he said, Ocean Trace did not meet the deadline and the contract was no longer in effect.
The breach in contract means that Stewart is able to award the job to the next lowest bidder, which is Bridgeport-based Connecticut Dismantling.
Stewart said he sent out the new contract to Connecticut Dismantling on Jan. 25. The company had 15 days to sign and return the contract and 60 days to complete the work.
Connecticut Dismantling’s bid is $34,800, about $15,000 more than Ocean Trace’s price.
The borough’s budget includes $19,440 for demolishing the home. Money will be taken from the contingency account to cover the extra cost. The borough will put a lien on the property to recover the money spent demolishing the house.
The home has been a safety concern for the borough for quite a while.
The home, which is owned by former burgess and tax collector Lois Ackerman, has been described by officials as having debris stacked at least 5 feet high inside. They say it attracts rodents, raccoons and other animals. It has a hole in the roof and walls collapsing inwards, according to officials. Building Inspector William Herzman has deemed the house uninhabitable because it is a health and fire hazard. He ordered it torn down in 2007.
Ackerman has claimed borough officials are unfairly targeting her for personal and political reasons. She has tried unsuccessfully to have a contractor fix the house. She also attempted to save the home through the court system several times but lost her last appeal.
As the borough moves forward with razing the house on Walnut Street, demolition of the building at 1 South Main St. is expected to begin Feb. 13, Stewart said.
The building, which is located on the corner of South Main Street and Maple Street, was purchased by One South Main Street, LLC, in 2011. The current owners of the property are Rich Hertel, who own Rich’s Car Works on the adjacent lot and Charles Wasoka, who owns American Vintage Furniture, located across the street from the property.
The borough has planned to tear down the building for over two years and has agreed to a deal with Hertel and Wasoka to do so.
As part of the deal, the borough will pay the Weise Construction of Norwich $42,900 to demolish the building. Once the building is demolished, the borough will receive a portion of the property the building sits on to use as a staging area for upcoming work on the Whittemore Bridge and ultimately to continue the Naugatuck River greenway.
The Republican-American contributed to this article.
