photo of another abandoned car on this property

Thanks for the report. That's a rough looking property.

Have you called the town about it yet?

You can try either of these two:

-Building Official: Ramond Steadward, 860-871-3604.
-Health Director: Robert Miller, Eastern Highland Health District, 860-429-3325.

One of them might be the right person to talk to. If the home is unsafe and open to whomever, it's likely a health hazard and may also have damaged or weakened floorboards - dangerous.

Give them a call and let me know how it goes.
860-646-0500 Ext. 305

Hello Annette,

OK thus far I've spoken with the building official and left a message for the town manager to ask about any plans to adopt a blight ordinance.

Will keep you posted!

Living in very close proximity, ie., across the street from this property, we have watched the ongoing downward spiral since the owner stopped living there. Previous conversations with the Town Officials over this situation unfortunately yielded no results . Thank you for bringing it into the light. Warren Simmons

Good morning Annette & Warren,

Any movement on the removal of the vehicles?

As I look out the front door at the burgeoning jungle across the street, no, there has been no movement of any kind. Same as the last 6 years, same as when we told the people in Town Hall three years ago that Mr. Burnham works at Standard Register in Tolland. Please don't allow my attitude to cloud your opinion, it's only that nobody seems to give a rats ###. Thank you for alowwing me to vent. Warren Simmons

Hi again - are the vehicles gone yet?

No changes as of yet. We really need to get a blight ordinance set up for this town!

OK I've emailed the Raymond Steadward again and hopefully he'll get this rolling. Remember, if you decide to call, be polite. There's only so much he can do to help. 860-871-3604.

I visited the property yesterday and found a relatively strong mold smell emanating from the building and noticeable from the street. The vehicles have yet to be removed, contrary to what town officials have said.

Hello again,

I spoke with Town Planner Linda Farmer today and the news is good and bad. The bad news is, although they are aware that previous attempts have been made to contact the owner directly, they are not going to start out from that point with their efforts. Instead, they're going to try to contact the guy again. I asked if the town was trying to contact the guy at his workplace, and she didn't have an answer for that. So it means nothing's going to happen for a while longer - you're at Square One, so to speak.

Farmer said it's necessary to back a few steps because it's a new group of people making the effort. I don't agree with that. I'm sure Ray Steadward left records of his work and the status of every one of these problem properties.

However, Farmer said that the town has contracted an interim building official to handle Steadward's duties until he is replaced. It's a company called Eye on the Job. The company is mentioned somewhere in this 107-page report from the town manager dated Sept. 14: http://www.tolland.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/Mgr-Rpt-with-Attachments.pdf

The good news is limited. If the new company follows through, it will be moving forward with sealing the building and removing the vehicles at some point.

Farmer seemed to think only one vehicle is located on the property at the moment. If anyone is enterprising, they might try to roll the other vehicle off the neighbor's land and back onto the offending property.

Farmer mentioned an "unregistered vehicle" ordinance as well. That might be the ordinance that gives the town the power to remove those vehicles. She repeated a few times that the absence of a blight ordinance leaves the town with few tools to remediate the property.

Has anything been resolved at this point? It's a year later, have the cars been removed? Is the house sealed? Has anyone from the town inspected the condition and it's hazards to the community?

Any updates on this issue?

House is gone, property cleaned up finally