NORWAY — Owners of almost a dozen sites in Norway have been notified that they must clean up their properties.

A business at 24 Marston St. and a rooming house at 467 Main St. that were ravaged by fire recently have been sold and will be torn down soon. At least a dozen other sites in town continue to be eyesores, Town Manager David Holt recently told the Board of Selectmen.

Holt said newly-appointed code enforcement officer Joelle Corey-Whitman is reviewing each case and letters have been sent to some property owners notifying them that they must remove debris on their property.

Under state law, towns have the right to secure structures or properties that pose a serious threat to the public’s health and safety to the point of ordering a structure torn down at the owner’s expense.

According to information from Holt, Corey-Whitman has sent letters or spoken to at least seven property owners in town, including owners of properties at 157 Pikes Hill Road, 370 Sodom Road and 422 Wiley Road, where debris from fires remains.

Other properties cited and owners told to clean up are at 267 Wiley Road, where there are abandoned cars, piles of tires and a 1978 trailer; 249 Shedd Road, the site of trash and debris; 44 Penn Ridge Road, where a dumpster has not been removed; and 142 Kahkonen Road, where a trailer roof has collapsed.

Complaints have also come in about properties owned by New Horizons Investment Corp.and Dawn Cummings Solomon around Deering and Pearl streets.

The town must notify the property owner and hold a hearing if they wish to declare a site a nuisance or hazard and take further action to get it cleaned up.

The town may also ask Oxford County Superior Court for an order to demolish a structure or remove debris if it is appropriate under the law.

ldixon@sunjournal.com