The town is currently in discussions with the owners of Bert’s [restaurant] to eliminate their all too prominent eyesore on Warren Avenue. If these discussions do not bear fruit, however, then the Select Board should take the following four steps to remove this eyesore:
- Authorize a full inspection of the property.
- Determine, based on the inspection, that the structure is a public nuisance.
- Include an article in the fall annual Town Meeting seeking to raise and appropriate a sum sufficient to demolish the structure.
- Issue an RFP for the purpose of hiring a contractor to demolish the structure. The cost of demolition would then be added, as a matter of law, to the tax bill for the property.
It is always best to resolve a dispute amicably, but in order to do so it often helps to let the other side know that if that cannot be done, there is a way to force the issue.
Richard M. Serkey