Residents: Tear Down Sycamore Avenue Home

For the residents of Sycamore Avenue, they have only one desire with regard to the house at 64 Sycamore Avenue—tear it down.

The owners of the house, , came before the township council Thursday as the council was to decide whether to authorize the demolition of the building that is boarded up and has been deemed uninhabitable. The council chose to allow 45 more days for the Czekaj family to hire a contractor and begin to get the permits to remediate the house, or it will be demolished immediately.

But for many surrounding residents, they believe that enough is enough.

Although they preferred to remain anonymous so as to not draw any ill feeling in the neighborhood, nearby Sycamore Avenue residents all said the family has been given enough time to clean and remediate the property, and the township needs to take action.

One resident said she remembers the five cars in the driveway of the house were towed away when the family was initially told the house was uninhabitable in 2010, but now she doesn’t understand why all the vehicles are back on the property.

In April 2011, the council authorized an escrow agreement with the Czekaj family in the amount of $20,000 to ensure compliance with township codes.

According to township engineer Robert Bogart, in the minutes for an April 2011 meeting, the house is considered “blighted,” and the issues include cleanup of the outside of the property and the repair of the building itself. The resolution was expected to provide a guarantee that the work would be performed by the owners.

The work was required to be completed by Aug. 1, 2011.

But one resident said the family actually did the work the day before that deadline, and she said she thinks there has been enough time and energy devoted to this.

She said she moved into her home on Sycamore Avenue more than 25 years ago, and she has watched the property decline since the Czekaj family moved in around the same time.

Township administrator James Naples said in an nj.com article that the building is not a police issue, but the interior and exterior are blighted.

Owners have complained about the property, Naples said in the article, and the owners have not made an effort to “render the house safe.”

For several of the residents, it is disturbing for them to see such a dilapidated property while they are keeping up appearances on their own houses.

And one resident said she is concerned that once the house is knocked down, if there are insects or vermin inside, they will infect the entire neighborhood.

Another resident, whose own home does not look out on the property at 64 Sycamore Avenue, said she finds the house disgusting

At this point, she said, she believes the house is devaluing the other properties on the street and should have been demolished last year.