Main Street Buildings To Come Down

By Liz Page

STAMFORD – Although work was being done to secure the upper floors of two Main Street buildings heavily damaged by fire more than a year ago, it will not save them, according to Stamford Village Mayor Robert Schneider. Owner Waled Haredy and two other men were working at the 60 Main St. building on Wednesday, removing loose pieces and placing netting over the upper floors.

Waled said they were securing the buildings to make them safe.

Haredy addressed the village board last November to tell the board he had three different architects look at the buildings and deemed them savable. He reiterated that on Wednesday, saying the lower two floors were salvageable. He said he was working with Village Code Enforcement Officer Rich Irwin to make the buildings safe. Irwin said months ago that the buildings needed to be netted to prevent debris from flying and other remediation done for safety. However, those measures were never taken, which led to last week's action by the village board. The buildings at 60 and 64 Main St. were condemned after they burned in December 2023 and have remained, in the eyes of the village board, a hazard to public safety and a liability to the village.

The village has repeatedly offered to purchase the two buildings for $2,000, the amount paid for them. Once the village has ownership, they could apply for funding to have them razed.

However, at last week's village board meeting, they passed a resolution to secure a loan for the demolition of the buildings that will be attached to the tax bill.

As work began on the buildings Wednesday, Mayor Robert Schneider said they had again sent a letter offering to purchase the buildings.

"We have heard nothing from the current owners. The village offered to purchase the buildings from them for the $1,000.00 each they paid.If the village owns the buildings we can apply to the county and state.This would preclude the owners having a $300,000 addition to their next village tax bill and give the village the opportunity to apply to Delaware County Economic Development as well as New York State for grant money to raze the buildings, rather than borrow the funds which will, eventually, result in an increase in village taxes. The property owners would serve themselves well, as well as village taxpayers, to deed the buildings to the village so we can explore other avenues to raise the demolition costs. Additionally, said the mayor, we have generously offered to make them whole for their purchase price of the two properties.

The buildings are not salvageable, according to the village code officer and not rebuildable in the existing format due to the current building code requirements, according to the mayor.

He went on to say that the current owners long term plans are unknown. He said they have purchased other properties in the village that have been sitting idle, including Vastas and The Mountain View House.

"The Trustees have no plans to change the urgent decision to raze these two buildings. This should have been done post fire before the buildings were sold, the village's insurance carrier and the NYS Department of Transportation (DOT) have been insisting that the village resolve this liability risk. The buildings are condemned and will be razed, the owners of the properties will be responsible for the demolition costs.

COE Rich Irwin asked them months ago to secure the buildings so objects would not be flying off of them in the wind. "Imagine if a piece of flying debris struck a child, the resulting litigation would be incredible. Not to mention that injury or worse could have been prevented had the property owners followed through with the order to mitigate this obvious risk. The building owner did nothing to comply with this order until the trustees resolved to remove the buildings. The buildings were condemned at the time they were sold so the buyers knew what they were getting involved in.

Haredy said two vacant lots where the buildings now stand will not serve the village and he said if the village persists, he will contact his lawyer.

The owner of 60 and 64 Main St. was working with two other men on Wednesday, using a lift to secure netting and remove loose parts of the buildings after the Stamford Village Board of Trustees resolved last week to take out a loan to raze the buildings, condemned after a fire in December 2023.