PITTSFIELD, Mass.— The city hopes to remedy an abandoned Morningside home through a demolition order.  

Last week, the Board of Health supported a demolition request on 21 Ensign Ave.  While the mortgage and taxes continue to be paid, the property is abandoned and has a hole in the roof. 

Director of Public Health Andy Cambi explained that it would normally be a slower process, but they were recently able to get success with a Lincoln Street property through an order to demolish. 

"It's in housing court right now, and the judge has given the owner 30 days to sell the property or our order sticks to demolish that property. Another option is that we will have a receiver go in there and rehab the property," he said about the Lincoln Street multifamily that was blighted and unsecured. 

"The reason it was able to escalate so quickly to that was because we had that order to demolish, so I'm using this as a tool, especially with this specific property, because of the great damage that's on the roof. As you saw from the pictures, that hole has been open for a couple of years now. It keeps getting bigger." 

He pointed out that the home continues to be paid for, explaining, "It's just literally an abandoned property, but everybody's still active on it."  This is the next step, he said, because tickets and letters have not worked, and the city doesn't normally take court action on vacant properties just to remedy the situation because they're vacant. 

"This is saying, 'Okay, you're not maintaining the actual property.' It's a public health nuisance to the neighborhood because of the tall grass, the overgrowth, and the blight conditions," Cambi explained. 

"Like I said, structurally, that just is creating much of an issue, so that's why I'm asking the board to give us that opportunity to send out a demolition order because it does have some impact moving forward on our next steps."