DANVERS — Dozens of Back Bay residents are urging the town to do something about 39 Chase St., a dilapidated, condemned house that stands out in a neighborhood of tidy homes.
"Bricks, shingles and gutters are falling off the house," reads a petition from 61 residents about a home that is approximately 200 yards from Plains Park and Holten Richmond Middle School beyond. Raccoons, squirrels, rats, birds and mice have made the house their home, they said in a petition in May.
On Monday afternoon, neighbors discovered someone had spray-painted an obscenity on the boarded-up back door overnight. Several beer cans littered the yard near the back stoop. A police officer arrived to take a picture of the graffiti.
Neighbors fear trespassers live there when the weather is bad and young people hang out there to drink. Residents are threatening to file abatement petitions on the notion the home is dragging down their property values.
However, this is not an all-too-common story of an abandoned home in foreclosure due to the economic downturn.
William and M. Elisabeth Champlin, who have owned the property for the past 50 years, are up to date on taxes and utilities, so the town doesn't consider the house abandoned. That limits the town's options, officials said.
The Champlins both have health issues and are staying with friends, Elisabeth Champlin said Monday. In recent months, they have been around less and less.
"We're trying to take care of it," she said.
Because of her vision problems, she said, she can no longer drive, and the couple are facing mounting medical bills.
Neighbors say the property, worth $315,000, has been a neglected, peeling eyesore for two decades.
The final straw came March 29, when neighbors thought they saw two burglars at the house and called police. Responding officers never found the suspects, but they did find "rough conditions" and alerted the Board of Health, the building inspector and the Fire Department, Capt. Pat Ambrose said.
In May, neighbors filed their petition with the town. Health Inspector Mark Carleo contacted the owners and told them to board up the windows and doors because of concerns people were breaking in. He also instructed the Champlins to set rodent traps. The town shut the electricity off over fire-safety concerns.
Elisabeth Champlin said she asked what to do about the yard. "He said not to worry about that," Champlin said. Carleo could not be reached for comment.
The town also condemned the house for a lack of egress, Assistant Town Manager Diane Norris said. Otherwise, it is structurally sound.
"We are happy to see the town take the first steps, but that is all they took," said abutter Barbara Dunphy, an attorney who is spearheading neighbors' efforts to get the property up to code or have it torn down.
She said the house has been in a state of disrepair since she moved behind it on Bay View Avenue in 1992.
Dunphy said the town dragged its feet providing answers to residents' questions. Since then, Norris has called Dunphy, and there are plans for a neighborhood meeting soon.
Champlin said she has done all the town required of her, and she intends to move back in. The petition states the Champlins haven't lived there for nearly three years.
"That's not true," Champlin said. "We've been there between hospitalizations."
Champlin said she was disappointed the neighbors have made such a fuss, and she thought the town was aware of her plight.
Limited options
With 7,000 homes in town, it is not uncommon for officials to deal with rundown properties that have drawn neighbors' ire, Town Manager Wayne Marquis said. The solutions are not as simple as trying to have a house knocked down.
For instance, the town has gone to court a number of times over neighbors' concerns about debris in the yard and the condition of a home on Lawrence Street, Marquis said. An unfinished home on Chestnut Street has also drawn complaints.
Taking a home once the owner fails to pay taxes is not easy or inexpensive, either.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at eforman@gloucestertimes.com.
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