Massena reassesses plan for buildings

MASSENA — The village board may not be willing to go through with a plan it agreed to in March to foreclose on and purchase the former Slavin and Shulkin Furniture and Jewelry buildings on Water Street.

But the mayor and village administrator argue the municipality may not have much choice in the matter.

Mayor Randy G. DeLosh polled board members Tuesday night, asking whether they were willing to move forward with an agreement to purchase the former Slavin properties at 2-4, 10-12 and 14-18 Water St. from St. Lawrence County for $50,000 once the county foreclosed on the parcels for back taxes.

In March, the village board passed a resolution authorizing the transaction, and the county Legislature agreed April 27 to proceed with the foreclosure.

But eight months have elapsed and village officials say the county still has not foreclosed on the property. Mr. DeLosh said he received a call from county Treasurer Robert O. McNeil this week attempting to confirm the village was still committed to the agreement before seizing the property.

All four village trustees voiced serious reservations Tuesday night about moving forward with the foreclosure, arguing that the municipality is not in a financial position to lay out $50,000 for the purchase of the block of blighted buildings as well as an estimated $300,000 to $500,000 to demolish and remediate them.

"I was against it five months ago and I still am," Trustee Joseph A. Macaulay said. "Can the taxpayers of Massena really afford that? I don't think so."

"I was for it at the beginning, but with everything that's happened with the economy, I'm not sure," Trustee Francis J. Carvel said.

Mr. McNeil has said the county is not willing to foreclose on the properties unless the village agrees to purchase them. The parcels are believed to have both asbestos contamination and an underground oil or gas tank, which could dramatically increase the cost of demolishing and cleaning the riverfront parcels, making ownership of the property undesirable for the county, the treasurer said.

The village had hoped to gain grant funding through the Restore New York program to help defray the cost of demolishing the structures, but the application it submitted this spring was unsuccessful.

"Unfortunately we weren't successful in getting that grant, but there are other opportunities out there," Mr. DeLosh said. "One of the key factors is that you can't apply for these grants if you don't own the property. That structure will continue to sit there and be a blight on this community unless we do something. You have an opportunity to purchase it and I don't think you should disregard that."

But the trustees no longer are comfortable moving forward with the purchase without some sort of assurance that taxpayers would not be saddled with hundreds of thousands of dollars in demolition and asbestos abatement costs.

Trustees said the buildings were in poor shape and could create very serious liability issues if the village assumed ownership of the parcels.

"It's only a matter of time before we get a good winter and that building will come down," Mr. Carvel said.

But Village Administrator Everett E. Basford said the village already had taken on liability by condemning the structure several years ago and subsequently failing to follow through on a provision in the 2003 condemnation order that stipulated that if the property owner failed to bring the structures up to code within 60 days or make arrangements to demolish them, the village would do so at the owner's expense.

"We already have liability on this property," Mr. Basford said. "By going through the condemnation procedure, it required that the village follow through in 60 days to fix or remove the building and you haven't done that."

Village Attorney Michelle H. Ladouceur confirmed that the village's condemnation action has created a significant amount of uncertainty about how the properties should be handled. She noted the condemnation was part of "some lingering issues" with the property.

The board agreed to table the issue until January, when it expects to make a final decision on the purchase agreement.