In the coming weeks, the so-called zombie house at 508 York Street in the Malden section of Saugerties will be torn down. The town board recently voted to go to bid to find a contractor to tear the abandoned house down. The town had been trying to determine who owned the house for years.
When the bid is awarded, the contractor will have to do a full inspection to see whether there is asbestos and if so submit a remediation plan to town building inspector Alvah Weeks. Money for the work, according to Weeks, will come from the town budget. The town will be reimbursed for the work after Ulster County sells the property for back taxes.
No one wants this zombie house and others like it in the town. Usually the houses are abandoned when the owner has failed to pay the mortgage. They are usually in such bad shape by then that it isn’t worth it for the lending institution or bank to fix it up and sell it.
Neighbors of the 508 York Street home have been worrying that vagrants would occupy the structure. They feared it might catch fire, and that the fire would spread to their homes. At one time the house was full of rats.
Weeks said he’s not sure whether the rats are still there. If so, they’ll flee to the rest of the neighborhood when the building comes down. It’ll be up to the contractor to make sure that doesn’t happen.
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