NEW JERSEY

600 Sandy-damaged homes could be demolished

Jean Mikle
@jeanmikle
  • Demolition work on hundreds of homes damaged by Sandy is not likely to start before May.

TRENTON – State officials, relying on some $25 million in federal funds, have identified about 600 Sandy-ravaged residential buildings for demolition. Far more than that require attention.

New Jersey Department of Community Affairs spokeswoman Tammori Petty said the agency is identifying the owners or lien holders of the 600 abandoned or dilapidated properties. The homes are located in 23 municipalities, many of them hard hit when Sandy came ashore on Oct. 29, 2012.

Such homes litter waterfront neighborhoods throughout Monmouth and Ocean counties, in places like Stafford’s Beach Haven West, Little Egg Harbor’s Mystic Island section, and in parts of Highlands and other areas in the Bayshore. In many cases, the owners do not have the money to tear down the structures, which have become neighborhood eyesores.

There are a number of reasons that homes have not been repaired. In some cases, property owners may still be fighting with their insurance companies or waiting to learn if they will receive grant funding that will allow them to demolish the home and then rebuild. Second, or vacation homes, are not eligible for grants under the state’s primary rebuilding program, Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) and many of them have struggled to find the money to tear down their houses.

New Sandy money available: do you qualify?

Under the demolition program, homeowners will be notified by letter that their property is eligible for inclusion, and DCA will also inform any lien holders, Petty said. Homeowners and lien holders must consent to the demolition in order to be included in the program. After consent is obtained, buildings will be grouped together by geographic area and the state will solicit bids for contractors to complete the work of tearing down the homes.

For municipal officials struggling with a myriad of problems since Sandy, the presence of so many decrepit houses is yet another vexing issue. In some cases property owners have simply walked away, leaving decaying, decrepit houses behind.

Petty said some demolition could be completed as soon as the end of May.

Towns struggle to deal with homes abandoned after Sandy

Last fall, DCA officials said they had inspected 1,600 homes that municipal officials had identified as in need for demolition. In Stafford alone, the list included nearly 300 structures, mostly located in Beach Haven West, according to Administrator James Moran.

Moran last week expressed frustration with the slow pace of the state’s demolition program, noting that it would have been better for homes to be torn down in Beach Haven West during the winter months. In summer, the area’s population swells, which will make it difficult -- and potentially dangerous -- for contractors to complete demolition work.

“I never believed they would come close to meeting their deadlines,” said Moran, who had suggested that the township instead hire its own contractor for the demolitions and then attempt to get reimbursed for the work. “We would have had them torn down in the dead of winter.”

Jean Mikle: (732) 643-4050, jmikle@app.com