Ward 1 Councilwoman Liz Gross said foreclosed properties in her district have been neglected by the banks that hold them. She said the recent cold spell has resulted in serious damage from pipe ruptures.
“There are at least three buildings in the Ward 1…that have been neglected,” Gross said at Monday’s council meeting. “We have serious flooding in the basements and the potential for structural problems.”
Widehall, currently held by Harbor Bank of Maryland, sustained “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in damages earlier this month when fire sprinklers ruptured and ran for days until a resident noticed water flooding into the street.
Widehall was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Built by Thomas Smyth in 1769, it later became the home of Maryland Governor Robert Wright and US Senator Ezekiel F. Chambers.
“The situation at Widehall is really a tragedy,” Gross said. “It would only have taken a minimal amount of attention to have prevented this.”
The property was foreclosed on in the fall and the heat had been turned off.
Gross said she wanted to get a list of other properties held by banks and pressure them to maintain their properties.
Virginia Schaible says
Editor,
The poor condition of many properties has a negative effect on Chestertown. Inspections should be stepped up and acted upon. The laws are on the books but in the past the city government has refused to abide by them. Many landlords are getting away with murder at the expense of the community and other taxpayers.
Patsy Hornaday says
Editor,
Hooray for Liz Gross and Virginia Schaible waking the Town up on what is happening to properties which we all fought to preserve through the decades of the 80’s and 90’s. We do not want to see that progress slide backward into the neglect experienced from the “absentee landlords” of those eras. The dissolved Old Chestertown Neighborhood Association did valuable surveying pinpointing areas of neglect. Sadly too many of those conscientious citizen residents have now passed on and OCNA is no longer a functioning organization.
We are so fortunate Liz won the recent election and we in the Third Ward hope our newly elected Councilman Shoge will make the same conscientious effort.
John L. Seidel says
Editor,
One quickly available enforcement tool is the “demolition by neglect” section of the historic district ordinance. Although it can only be used within the boundaries of Chestertown’s historic district, the Historic District Commission could start the process next week .
William Graham says
Editor,
I was very disturbed to read of the damage to this beautiful house and wrote a note to the bank on their contact page:
“I just read about the damage to the historic residence in Chestertown, MD, Widehall; “Hundreds of Thousands” of dollars of water damage to this foreclosed property under your stewardship due to frozen pipes that could have been avoided with the simplest of preventive measures any absent homeowner for a multimillion dollar property would have taken in winter. Are your shareholders aware of this tragic lapse by the bank”?
Robert Fox says
Editor,
This is terrible news. One of our most important homes on the way to ruin owing to the lack of heat in the building. The story begs more detail. What are the other two buildings mentioned in the article? Did the Widehall fire sprinklers go off on all floors or (improbably) just in the basement. The one implies ruined walls/floors/casements/etc. and the other “just” a flooded basement with waters rising to street level. What now? Another complete overhaul as was done to Widehall after Tropical Storm Isabel?
Carol L. Niemand says
Editor,
Thanks to Liz Gross for bringing to our attention the sad news on foreclosures. The situation at Widehall is beyond a travesty and hopefully the banks will give immediate attention to its plight.
Steve Payne says
Editor,
Maryland has a foreclosed property registration law now that allows local govs to pass laws requiring foreclosure property owners to give contact and status information to them so that they can avoid or deal with situations like this. They’re required to put some info online too. Chestertown could do this and establish an inspection program for them I would think.
https://mlis.state.md.us/2012rs/bills/hb/hb1373e.pdf
Patty Barila says
Editor,
If you want to see how badly the banks neglect foreclosed properties I suggest you take a short ride to Tolchester Estates and drive through the community. It’s shocking to see how many houses there that not only the banks ignore but so does the Kent County Government. Houses that are falling down, yards that have weeds and vines growing over the houses and in some cases inside the windows and in one particular case one had an uncovered well that was hidden because of the overgrowth that a dog fell into it. These properties are not only an eyesore but are very dangerous for the many children who live in the community.
I realize our properties in disrepair are not “historical” but deserve as much effort to correct as if they were.