SNOW HILL – The Worcester County Commissioners agreed this week to proceed with removing a dilapidated house on Madison Avenue.
On Tuesday the commissioners voted unanimously to remove the structure at 13412 Madison Ave. and clean up the property.
“This property has been a blight on the community at least since I’ve been elected,” Commissioner Joe Mitrecic said.
County staff said that in recent years they’d received several complaints regarding the property on Madison Avenue and its unkempt condition. Ed Tudor, the county’s director of development review and permitting, said the property was home to a one-story concrete block cottage that was at least 60 years old. Tudor said that in general, complaints had related to the growth of grass and weeds on the property.
“The department managed to cut the grass several times over the last few years after notices to the property owners as shown on the tax assessment rolls went unanswered or undelivered,” he wrote in a report to the commissioners.
He said research revealed that the property owners, Raymond A. and Jeanette Quillen of Delaware, were deceased. He said the estates of the individuals were closed as well, as Raymond Quillen had passed away in 1994 and his wife had passed away in 2007. Attempts to contact the couple’s sons have been unsuccessful.
“It’s been really tough trying to get some kind of contact out of these folks,” Tudor said.
He explained that the county’s code required a structure to be beyond reasonable hope of repair or rehabilitation in order for it to be declared a nuisance.
“Up until just recently I didn’t feel it met that standard however we have had a hole in the roof open up,” he said.
The commissioners voted unanimously in favor of Mitrecic’s motion to move forward with removing the structure and cleaning the property up.
