Oxford’s town attorney, Mark Bower, explains to selectmen Thursday night the legalities of condemning and demolishing a dangerous building. From left are Vice Chairman Scott Hunter and Chairman Dana Dillingham. The board voted unanimously to demolish a dangerous building at 260 King St. Nicole Carter/Advertiser Democrat
OXFORD — Selectmen voted unanimously Thursday night to demolish a dangerous building at 260 King St.
The house has been the source of code violation citations and neighbor complaints for at least a decade.
The decision followed a public hearing attended by town attorney Mark Bower, who explained the legalities of the process.
James A. Thibodeau, professional engineer and president of Associated Design Partners Inc. of Falmouth, inspected the building last summer with its owner, Leon Morse, Code Enforcement Officer Kingston Brown and Oxford police Cpl. Zachary Bisson. Afterward, Thibodeau advised Brown the house was at risk of collapse.
At Thursday’s hearing, Morse asked why the hearing notice was sent to three parties with outstanding liens against the property, and why its value increased following the townwide revaluation last year, if the building was condemned. He said he replaced the roof in 2014 when officials said it was in violation of the Property Maintenance Ordinance. Brown pointed out that conditions to the rest of the building had deteriorated significantly since then.
Morse has 30 days to appeal the decision but did not indicate whether he would.
Town Manager Adam Garland recommended selectmen allow an additional 60 days following the appeal deadline for Morse to arrange to take the building down and clear the site.
If nothing is done, the town will foreclose on the property and have the building demolished.
In other business, selectmen tabled the Oxford Solar 1 abatement request for $62,675.36. The company claims that under state law, its equipment is tax exempt due to it being under five million megawatts.
Assessor Colleen Halse confirmed the application was accurate.
Halse also acknowledged the application is confusing: the property value on the title card was zero and the application was processed well after the deadline to present it. She said it was actually received on time but an outsourced data entry vendor overlooked it.
The board requested that Halse determine if the property is owned by another party and leased to Oxford Solar 1, and provide documentation of what happened, including the date stamp of the application.
Rebate requests from five other parties totaling $3,010.11 were approved without comment.
During public comment, resident Lois Pike asked when a fire chief would be hired.
Garland said the position will not be filled until after the March 5 election.
The ballot includes a question asking voters to approve changing how Oxford’s fire department personnel’s retirement account is managed. Once retirement benefits are finalized, a chief will be hired.
Oxford has been without a fire and rescue chief since Paul Hewey resigned in September.
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