The Ulster Town Board last week voted to authorize town attorney Jason Kovacs to commence a civil action in New York State Supreme Court on behalf of the town against Catelo Viviani, for allowing his property at 338 Glenerie Boulevard fall into disrepair.
The resolution is seeking approval of the Supreme Court to “dismantle and remove” structures at the property, “on the grounds that they are unsafe, a threat to public safety and health and uninhabitable,” and are in violation of Ulster town and state property maintenance codes. The town further seeks to direct Viviani to comply with town code and to be granted “further relief as to the court may seem just and proper, together with the costs and disbursements of the action, and for an order allowing all costs, expenses, legal fees and costs to dismantle the premises on the tax bill for said property.”
The dispute between the town and Viviani is not new. At a town board meeting held on Thursday, July 21, 2022, officials detailed an order to remedy notice covering 14 violations against property owner Catelo Viviani dated July 13 and, according to town building inspector Warren Tutt, delivered by both certified and regular mail.
According to Ulster County records dating back to 2022, on the property are ten buildings, nine unoccupied, and among the violations cited by the Town of Ulster were dumping and outdoor storage of waste; maintenance of grass lawns; weeds and other rank or noxious vegetation; general sanitation; and numerous issues with the structures themselves.
Each of the violations comes with a per-day penalty of $250, according to town officials.
According to county records, Viviani purchased the property from the county for $104,000 on July 3, 2018.
On August 4, 2022, the town board held a public hearing about the Glenerie Boulevard property described by neighbors as a “debacle” due to disrepair. At the meeting, Viviani claimed to not have received the violation notices filed by the town. He also chided his neighbors for their criticism.
“If my neighbors were that concerned, they could have knocked on my door and talked to me,” Viviani said. “Maybe they could have given me a hand. I would have paid them.”
In July 2022, some of those neighbors reported that Viviani had begun making cosmetic improvements in an effort to placate town officials, but were skeptical that it would amount to much.
“It’s been four years and we are tired, and I am concerned because I feel like there’s some things happening on the property that are more cosmetic,” said Mary Jo Fredericks at that meeting. “And I don’t think the root problem of the safety of those buildings is being considered. If the future plan is for people to inhabit those buildings, I am urging the town to take a real good look, because if you look at the cabins closely from the road you can see that they’re just patching over what I think are structural problems.”
Other concerns are shared
“I live down the street from the debacle that he has created in our neighborhood,” said Linda Belzadi. “It is unsafe. There are rats in there, there’s vermin in there. Somebody could go in there and set a fire, which would destroy all of our trees.”
At the August 4, 2022 meeting, town supervisor James E. Quigley, III said he was unconvinced by Viviani’s improvements and said the process of bringing the matter before the New York State Supreme Court wasn’t likely to stop.
“You still haven’t told us when you’re going to clean it up by and how you’re going to clean it up,” Quigley said. “That’s what’s important here … We have made the statement that it is unacceptable as the current conditions, we are going to continue our process in forming our path towards a judicial decree. And if Mr. Viviani is fortunate enough to fix the property to the town building inspector’s preference prior to us getting to where we need to file, fine. If not, we’re going to court.”
In the nearly two years since, town officials said they were proven right, and now they are taking the issue to the state Supreme Court. “This is a step in what is a process and we will continue on this road to try to get this corrected,” said deputy supervisor Clayton Van Kleeck during the town board meeting held on Thursday, May 16. “This is by no means the resolution of a problem. It’s just a continued action.”
Two neighbors of the property, Joyann Simmons and Linda Fallon, said they were grateful to see the issue finally being brought to the state Supreme Court.
“I just want to thank you,” said Simmons. “We’ve been waiting four years for this.”
Viviani could not be reached for comment.
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