Milford Council To Address Neglected Buildings
Milford Town Council will meet 7 p.m. Monday, May 11, at town hall, 121 S. Main St., and Council President Bob Cockburn would like to know what the council can do about a number of buildings in Milford that are abandoned, neglected and unsafe.
Medina’s Body Repair, SR 15, destroyed in a fire killing two occupants, is only the most visible example. Town Marshal Rich Miotto referred to an old brick house at the corner of Fifth Street and West Avenue. “It’s been in disrepair for 15 years at least,” he noted. Another area of concern is Turkey Creek Drive, where an apparent absentee owner has left trailers with broken windows, damaged skirting and other signs of neglect. Most blocks in Milford have at least one old house or trailer that is uninhabited and uninhabitable.
“I could not imagine living next to one of those,” commented Cockburn, who has heard complaints from residents who do. “My goal is to see what we can do about it.”
The town has taken a first step by hiring a part-time building inspector Ken Brower, who was unavailable for immediate comment. However, according to Milford’s “unsafe building law” and the state codes associated with it, the inspector may have enforcement authority but not the hearing authority needed to demolish or remove property. “He’s so limited as to what he can do,” Miotto observed. “Over the last 15, 20 years we had a building inspector and it’s not getting done.”
Another problem is a lack of funds. “It would be nice if we had the money big cities do,” commented Cockburn, but he was quick to add that, even with those funds, blight remains pervasive in many larger municipalities.
One glimmer of hope may be carpenters such as Junior Anderson, who buy properties for renovation and resale. He has already renovated houses on Orn Road and, most recently, Catherine Street, a home so inundated with cigarette smoke it had gone unsold for two years. But whether Anderson and others are willing to take on Milford’s more challenging “nuisance” properties remains to be seen.
Such are the issues the council will have to explore along with Town Attorney Jay Rigdon if it hopes to help Milford residents worried about the possibility of depreciating property values, pests and other problems associated with dilapidated buildings in Milford.