Fitchburg eyes relocation of house due to retaining-wall problems

By Alana Melanson

amelanson@sentinelandenterprise.com @alanamelanson on Twitter

FITCHBURG -- City officials are looking to move the single-family home at 242 High St. -- a property the city has had to buy twice in less than 30 years because of an issue with an adjacent retaining wall -- possibly to the location of a blighted triple-decker that will soon be torn down on Johnson Street.

According to Housing Director Ryan McNutt, the city will soon put out a request for proposals for the home, provided the buyer is capable of moving it.

McNutt said he would like to see the house moved to the site of 3-5 Johnson St., which currently holds a triple-decker owned by the Twin Cities Development Corp. -- if the organization casts the winning bid.

In 2010, water runoff had undermined the structural integrity of the retaining wall that holds up Mechanic Street next to 242 High St., he said, and the city paid the owner $165,000 for the house. McNutt said repairing the existing granite retaining wall would have cost nearly $1 million.

According to Department of Public Works Commissioner Lenny Laakso, the city had to buy the property in the 1980s as well, after problems with the retaining wall then caused damage to an existing tenement building. The owner sued the city and won, he said, costing the city about $87,000, in addition to repairs to the wall. The existing structure was torn down and

Simultaneously to the 2010 events of 242 High St., McNutt said, the city decided to take a landlord who owned several blighted properties in the Elm Street area to court. These properties were then put into receivership, he said, and were taken under tax title. Twin Cities CDC bid on 3-5 Johnson St. in an auction and will tear it down possibly as soon as next week, McNutt said.

Marc Dohan, executive director of the Twin Cities CDC, said he wants to get the building down as soon as possible, but a date for the demolition hasn't been set yet.

"We're about to finish three new homes across the street," he said. "We've been really wanting to take down 3-5 Johnson for quite some time."

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Fitchburg eyes relocation of house due to retaining-wall problems