By EJ Conzola II

More than nine months after a fire destroyed a commercial and residential building on the village’s main thoroughfare, Village of Whitehall officials are struggling to find a way to clean up the property.

The April 26 fire left the lot at 171 Broadway covered in debris, with only one small segment of an exterior wall jutting into the air. But village efforts to have the owner of the property clear away the detritus have run into a series of dead ends.

The property is technically owned by a limited liability corporation, and efforts to contact the principal behind the LLC have been fruitless, Mayor Julie Eagan said during the Jan. 31 meeting of the Village Board’s public works committee. Telephone numbers associated with the principal are no longer in service and he is no longer at the address listed on the forms filed with the state, Eagan said.

The village cannot do anything to clean up the site – or even secure it through fencing or other barricades to keep people out – because it is still private property, Village Attorney Matt Fuller said.

The village had demolished the structure immediately after the fire under an emergency provision that allowed it to act because the building – which abutted the sidewalk on Broadway – was in danger of collapsing and presented a serious risk of injury to anyone walking or driving past on Broadway, which is also State Route 22.

Washington County could take title to the property if the current outstanding property taxes remain unpaid, Fuller said, but any action by the county would be at least a year away. Even if the taxes do remain unpaid, Fuller said, the county is not obligated to foreclose on the property and would be unlikely to do so because it would become responsible for the clean-up – a cost that Bob Murray of the LaBarge Group estimated could be as high as $250,000.

The LaBarge Group is currently working as the village’s engineering and planning consultant on multiple infrastructure projects and has helped the community obtain several grants to help pay for those projects.

The cost of the clean-up is so high because it is not known if there is asbestos contamination at the site, and the fire has made it impossible to conduct the tests needed to determine if abatement would be required, he said.

Murray said there may be some grant money available if a municipality – the county or the village – were to take title to the land, but the funding is not guaranteed and could take a long time to obtain.

The county could theoretically take title to the site and turn it over to the village, but neither entity would want to take on the responsibility without the money in hand – and the money won’t be available until a municipality is the property owner, he added.

Murray said former village mayor Francis “Fra” Putorti might be interested in taking on the property for possible redevelopment, but Putorti said his company is not currently prepared to get involved in that way.

Matthew Putorti, Fra’s son, said his family would be willing to get involved with the clean-up but would not want to take on the responsibility on its own. The family recognizes the need to clean the property because it poses a safety, health and environmental hazard, but is not prepared to get deeply involved and has no plans to redevelop the site, he said.

The family did reach out to Assemblyman Matt Simpson, R-Horicon, and state Sen. Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, about the property and while they “recognized and sympathized” with the village’s plight, they said there is no state money available to help out, Matthew Putorti said.

The Putortis own the building at 167 Broadway, an office and residential structure that was damaged in the blaze. They have been working to repair the damage and reopen the building, but that work is on hold until the weather improves, Matthew Putorti said.

The destroyed building, which had at one time been a restaurant with apartments on the upper floors, had been undergoing renovations when it burned. Fire investigators believe the fire was sparked by a carelessly discarded cigarette.