City authorizes demolition
Debris falling from a dilapidated building at 132-134 North Main St. in Washington Monday morning had firefighters climbing an aerial truck ladder in order to remove unstable portions of the building’s facade.
Mayor Brenda Davis authorized an emergency demolition of the property, which is owned by Jeffrey Watson. Watson, an administrative law judge for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission in Pittsburgh, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
A window dormer on the top floor of the building had to be taken down, leaving a large exposed area. Firemen used long poles with hooks to pull off the loose, colorful slate facade, which came crashing down to the front sidewalk, smashing into pieces. That area of North Main was closed to pedestrians and motorists while the work was done. Firemen said the building’s roof had collapsed, because they could hear material crashing through to the building’s ground floor.
“I would think this would qualify for emergency demolition,” said the city’s code enforcement officer, Rob McIntyre. “We’ve been trying to get this down for years.”
It was not the first time firefighters have had to address issues with the building, which has been vacant for seven or eight years. The building housed Patsy Cimino’s barbershop. Cimino retired in 2004.
Monday morning, Joe Vucic, owner of Joe’s Bakery across the street, noticed debris falling from the building and called 911. That call apparently was first routed to city police, because fire Chief Linn Brookman said it took a couple of hours before firefighters got a request to bring their aerial truck to the scene.
“It’s a mess,” Councilman Kenneth Westcott said of the building. He said at one time there were marble fireplaces in each of the rooms, as well as an ornate oak staircase.
Westcott said when he left office as mayor in 2007 the building and the nearby Nor-Main Hotel at 160 N. Main St. were on the city’s demolition list but were later taken off that list. Portions of the Nor-Main is falling onto a neighboring building, which someone had expressed an interest in renovating if the dilapidated hotel could be removed.
Under new state legislation, the city has established a Citywide Development Corp. that allows it to remove dilapidated property for development.
Pete Stefansky, Main Street manager, has received inquiries from two people who would consider using the site if the building at 132 North Main were demolished. One is the Life Church, which would like additional parking. Stefansky declined to name the other interested party.
The city has been identifying buildings that could be torn down under the new Land Banking Act. Westcott said officials also have been spray painting large red X’s on condemned buildings to indicate firefighters are not to enter the buildingd in the event of a fire. While the building at 132 North Main did not have an X on it, Westcott said it soon would.
Parking meters in front of the building have been bagged and yellow caution tape placed around the front of the building to keep people from walking near it should other material fall down.