Lloyd targets unsafe building in town

By Mark Reynolds
Posted 3/17/21

The Lloyd Town Board addressed an issue of a failing structure at 9 Commercial Avenue that has been owned by Venkatraman Mahadevan since 2012. Deputy Building Inspector Anthony Giangrasso has been …

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Lloyd targets unsafe building in town

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The Lloyd Town Board addressed an issue of a failing structure at 9 Commercial Avenue that has been owned by Venkatraman Mahadevan since 2012. Deputy Building Inspector Anthony Giangrasso has been sending the owner, “complaints that the building, the walls and the roof line are going to fail.” He said after speaking with the town’s attorney Sean Murphy on the proper procedure for bringing this matter to the Town Board, he asked them how soon they want this unsafe structure either repaired or demolished. He is worried that if an outside wall collapses somebody would be seriously hurt or possibly killed.

Councilwoman Claire Winslow said it appears that the owner is simply saying yes to Giangrasso and is not taking any action to remedy the situation. Councilman Joe Mazzetti said that now the board is aware of the seriousness of this matter, “I think that we now have to move forward because we have knowledge of it. If we don’t move forward we are just as responsible as he is for neglecting his building. I think we need to do a resolution so you [Giangrasso] can do what you need to do to either have him fix it or have it torn down.”

Supervisor Pizzuto directed attorney Murphy to draw up a resolution for the March 17th meeting that will start to resolve this issue.

Building Department Director Dave Barton said the owner will now receive a notice that the board will be taking some formal action against him on his building.

“The hiccup is that we are not doing a taking [but] this is in order to protect the health, safety and welfare of people,” he said. “If you’ve driven up Meadow Street you will see that wall bowing out and I can not believe that it’s not in the road already. Anthony has run point on this and has chased this guy and been frustrated by this guy, he is a BS artist and I wish he would step up. We’re at the point where we want something to happen sooner rather than later.”

Murphy suggested contacting the owner to require him to either secure the building or take it down but give him a deadline of 30 days to comply.

“We also have to give him a hearing to give him the opportunity to be heard, and we have to serve it on him” Murphy said, adding that he will have a resolution and a notice ready for the March 17th meeting. “If he ignores the Town Board the town could take it down themselves and charge him on his taxes for the expenses.”

Winslow agreed on the necessity to proceed without delay.

“We have to go as fast as we can go and I don’t think we can dilly-dally on this because if it is dangerous we definitely don’t want it to come down on somebody,” she said.

Giangrasso said if the owner wants to repair the building, he will require that an architect or engineer draw up and stamp plans on how this would be made safe, with a timeline put in place for the completion of the work.