Problem house will soon be demolished
Published Monday October 6th, 2008
Unsightly Resident has been after town to deal with dilapidated property next door
ST. STEPHEN - Linda Noel says she has been through a nightmare for the past 20 years, but on Wednesday she will be doing her happy dance when the house next door that has caused her so many problems will be torn down.
On Wednesday, town council will begin implementing its plan to clean up unsightly premises when it demolishes the property next to Noel's home. The dilapidated house is the same home that Mayor Jed Purcell lived in as a child. Purcell was elected in May, before the town started working on Noel's problem.
Sitting on Greene Street in the Milltown section of St. Stephen, the old red house looks neglected. There are no windows, no locks on the door, and no sign of a lawn mower in years. Inside the house, there is nothing left but faded carpets that dip and heave when walked on, food wrappers, an old coffee cup, and the casings of what used to be stairs and cabinets but have now been stripped and sold for whatever cash could be made.
Next door, separated only from an old falling-down fence, Linda Noel's house is freshly painted, her lawn carefully manicured and her car shining clean in the driveway.
When Noel moved into her house in 1979, she said it was a nice neighbourhood, but time and the neglect from neighbours have caused her to live a nightmare.
"It used to be a nice place to live - we had a post office and people kept up their homes. And today it's just terrible," said Noel.
"It's going downhill. We have a lot of drugs, a lot of people not working. I've tried to sell my house. My house is nice but no one wanted anything to do with that house next door."
The house next door has not been maintained over the years, she said.
Noel said the people who used to live in the house had large dogs that barked all night keeping her and her late husband awake. Every day, she said, she was cleaning up dog droppings from her front yard. She said the neighbours burned things in the backyard and the smoke went toward her house.
When the family finally moved out about a year ago, the house was left abandoned and Noel said it was frequently vandalized and broken into. She feared someone would burn house or its garage on fire and the flames would spread to her home.
She said she did everything she could over the years to get the town to do something about the unsightly property. She went to town mayors, spoke to council and argued that the town's bylaws should be enforced instead of ignored - but nothing was done.
"I was pretty much laughed out," she said.
Noel said eventually she went to Hendrik Slegtenhorst, the town's chief executive officer. He came down to see the problem and together they found a solution.
"Why would you want a building like that in your neighbourhood?" asked Slegtenhorst.
"Linda has a charming house, the guy across the way has a nice house. Why would you want a piece of junk between you? It brings down property value, it invites mischief "¦"
Slegtenhorst said council deemed the property an unsightly premise, and on behalf of the town he bought the home for about $10,000, minus the $6,250 cost of tearing the structure down.
At 8 a.m. on Wednesday the house will fall to the ground, ending Noel's trouble and turning Purcell's memory to rubble.
The mayor said he lived in that house with his parents and his aunt until he was 11 years old.
"It was just an ordinary house until they ransacked it. You would never know it is the same house," said Purcell. "I think it's an unsightly premise and it's better to be out of the way than to let it deteriorate."
Purcell said this is just the beginning. Under a new strengthened unsightly premises bylaw, Purcell said the town will continue to crack down on unsafe and ugly properties in the town.
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