Sycamore Ave. Home Not Being Demolished

The township currently has no plans to move foward with tearing down a dilapidated house on Sycamore Avenue since the owner has begun working on plans for restoration.

According to township administrator James Naples, the Czekaj family, which owns the property at 64 Sycamore Avenue, has been working with the code department, verified the funding for the restoration and has selected a builder.

The family, Naples said, will be working with Micorp Builders for the work.

"The builder has unofficially put plans in," he said. "We are waiting for the architectural drawings to be put in."

Naples said the township is giving the family until the end of the week for those drawings, and they are expected to come in by Thursday.

Thomas and Kethryn Czekaj were before the township council April 12 as the council was preparing to decide whether to authorize a demolition of the house that has been boarded up for years, and deemed uninhabitable. At that time, the council chose to allow for 45 more days for the family to hire a contractor and get the permits to remediate the house, or it will be demolished immediately.

Those 45 days were up around the end of May.

Residents of Sycamore Avenue, near the house itself, have said they think it is time for the township to take action already since the house was deemed uninhabitable back in 2010. Many said they believe enough time has been devoted to this property at this point.

In April 2011, the house was deemed "blighted" by the township, with issues including cleanup of the outside and repair of the building needing to be addressed.

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

There is currently an escrow account with $20,000, from the Czekaj family, which was supposed to be used for the restoration, and otherwise would have been used for the demolition of the house.

"We will use the money in escrow for the rehabilitation of the home," Naples said. "The family has secured a letter of credit for the remaining money."

At this point, Naples said, the Czekaj family has been working with the builder and the code department pretty intensively for the last two weeks. He said he is not sure if the restoration will just require a permit, or if the family will have to go before the planning board.

"But they are on the road to conformance," Naples said.

Naples said he also received a letter from a resident requesting the demolition of a house on Bridgewater Avenue, which was destroyed in a fire. But, he said, the township will not be moving forward with demolition of it, as it did through the Czekaj family's home.

"It wasn't in the same league," he said. "It was the case of a house that has been secured and boarded up."

That property, Naples said, is for sale, and the house is secured.

"It is being taken care of by the owner," he said. "The house is not an imminent threat, and the lawn has been cut, so it's not a property maintenance issue."