Canton Balks At Cost To Remove Eyesore

CANTON — The village may again tackle how to remove a burned-out building on Gouverneur Street as the town has run into the same kinds of environmental costs the village had when it wanted to demolish another house on the same street.

The house at 3-5 Gouverneur St. burned nearly a year ago, but its owner, Harriet Stebbins Johnson, is a senior citizen living in a downstate nursing home without resources to remove it. She offered to sign the property over to the town or village if either paid the back taxes, which are more than $10,000.

The village had a plan to pay the back taxes and transfer the property for $1 to a developer who would tear it down.

The village was looking for an alternate way of handling the problem property after it ran into cost over-runs when it wanted to demolish a second burned-out house at 26 Gouverneur St. That house was taken down by the owner after it had stood for 20 months as an eyesore and safety hazard.

Village officials backed away from working on 3-5 Gouverneur St. after the town decided to pursue an abstract of title.

"It's not dead," town Supervisor David T. Button said. "We'd like to do it."

But Mr. Button said the cost of the back taxes, asbestos abatement at an estimated cost of $4,500, and removal of the debris at about $4,000 is approaching the $20,000 maximum town officials think they could recoup if they sold the cleaned-up lot.

Mr. Button said he is working on finding state grant money through waterfront revitalization to help pay for the environmental cleanup.

The village will have to revisit the issue if the town is unwilling to handle the demolition, Mayor David P. Curry said.

"The village has to look at that more seriously now if the town doesn't want to have anything to do with it," he said. "It's got to be taken down. It's an eyesore. I know the village is not going to look at it much longer."