NORWAY — The town has foreclosed on the Norway Opera House after former owner Barry Mazzaglia of Bitim Enterprises of Londonderry, N.H., failed to pay his 2009 tax bill of $2,938.34 by April 6.
“The foreclosure has happened. What happens next I don’t know,” Tax Collector Shirley Boyce said.
Mazzaglia is embroiled in an eminent domain case with the town over what it should pay him for the historic 1894 building he bought in 2003 for $225,000.
Last year, the town took the three-story brick edifice in the heart of the downtown because engineers deemed it unsafe. A partial roof collapse in 2007 weakened the structure and the town shored it up last winter.
An Oxford County Superior Court judge is expected to determine how much the town must pay Mazzaglia after hearing evidence July 14 and 15, according to a letter from attorney James E. Belleau, who is representing the town.
Both sides have said the process has been prolonged due to the inability to get at least half dozen witnesses together at the courthouse.
“I expressed the board’s frustration at how long it (the eminent domain process) is taking to the town’s attorney,” Holt said.
Boyce said besides the unpaid 2009 taxes, Mazzaglia has not paid $2,626.10 for 2010 and $2,362.63 for 2011. He signed a certified letter from the town notifying him of the impending foreclosure on March 7, according to the tax collector’s records.
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