By MARCIE SCHELLHAMMER

marcie@bradfordera.com

A residence destroyed by squatters, a roof patched with a 5-gallon bucket and trees growing from under a front porch were some of the issues at homes declared public nuisances by the Bradford City Board of Health on Tuesday.

Five properties were added to the public nuisance list: 193 High St., 201 High St., 13 Rochester St., 198 E. Main St., and 52 Forman St.

The property at 193 High St., owned by Gary Charnisky, has a natural spring flowing through it and onto the road, causing a hazard, explained health director Brandon Plowman.

‘The roof of the entire structure is in poor condition,’ he said. ‘Sections of the foundation are poor, which are cracked and shifting out from under the structure. A large portion of the rock foundation is moving. All of the exterior walls are in poor condition. Siding is in poor condition, deteriorating.’

There’s a tree resting on the roof, and rubbish is accumulating on the property.

Plowman said he had spoken to the owner, who had bought the property out of tax sale with the intention of rehabbing it. ‘Someone had broken in and stolen a bunch of his tools and he had given up,’ Plowman said. ‘I introduced the possibility

Nuisance… page A-8

This property at 201 High St. was added to the Bradford City Board of Health’s public nuisance list.

Era photo by Sara Furlong of waiver, he didn’t seem interested as he was using it as storage, which is against code.”

Board member Kris Goll urged the department of property maintenance to start fining the owner.

Board president Fred Proper said, “Mr. Plowman, who is a witness, has made a comment during this proceeding that this property is being used for a specific purpose that not only is the property in violation but the use is in violation. There has been testimony that brought forth another violation. There needs to be violations written.”

The property at 201 High St., owned by Devin Frame of Eldred, has been “a hotspot for squatters,” Plowman said.

He spoke of conditional issues, such as the roof deteriorating and falling off, gutters falling off, windows and doors boarded up and the basement filled with water.

“The foundation on the entire structure is deteriorating, the cinder block is basically crumbled,” he explained.

Proper said the brick house’s masonry appears to be in good condition, and asked about the interior. Plowman said the inside has been demolished by squatters ripping out pipes and wiring in search of materials to sell.

“What’s the deal with the owner?” asked board member Mayor Tom Riel.

Plowman said, “He’s basically unresponsive.”

When the doors and windows had been broken out, the Department of Public Works boarded it up because Frame was unresponsive. A local person had tried to buy the property, Plowman said, but didn’t have any success.

The property at 13 Rochester St., owned by David Taylor of Bradford, has two trees growing out from under the front porch, Plowman said.

“The entire roof on the structure is deteriorating and nonexistent in spots. I have no doubt that this roof probably leaks,” he said. The siding is in poor condition, and the exterior has peeling paint. The foundation is deteriorating, shifting and is cracked. On the interior, sunlight can be seen through the walls and floor.

At 198 E. Main St., also owned by Taylor, the front porch roof has a hole that was filled with a bucket.

“The roof is cupped and worn and weathered,” Plowman said. “The front porch is in poor condition. Sections of the wood components are deteriorating.”

The foundation has missing sections, leaving the structure above it to be “floating” in parts.

Riel asked Plowman if he had spoken to Taylor. Plowman said he had not. Riel said he knew Taylor had purchased some properties with the intention to rehabilitate them, but hadn’t.

The house at 52 Forman St., owned by Thomas Bradford of Towanda, had a tarped roof, but the tarp disintegrated before the roof was repaired, Plowman said.

The roof is in poor condition, and shingles have fallen off. The facia and soffit have deteriorated. “Overall the brick didn’t appear to be in terrible condition,” he said. “There were some uprights that were cracked, some masonry around the mezzanine in the front is deteriorating and coming detached.”

All the wooden components on the structure and the garage are deteriorating. There are several broken windows, and the chimney is in poor condition. On the interior, some sections have been gutted, Plowman said.

Also at the meeting, the board approved a waiver for Rebecca Nielsen for a property at 41 Marion Ave.

The board also heard a status update of the property at 71 Rochester St. from owner Majad Sultan of Hicksville, N.Y., who intends to move here when the property is up to code. He sent photos of work he had done on the interior, and seemed to be confused at first at what the city wanted when he was asked for a timeline and scope of work. After conversations with Riel and Goll, he agreed to work on the exterior of the home and to submit a plan to the city.