OXFORD — Selectmen have ordered the owner of a King Street home to clean up his property within 60 days or face its possible demolition by the town.

At their meeting Thursday, selectmen signed an order that concludes the small home poses a danger to life and property.

“The building is structurally unsafe, unstable and a hazard to health or safety due to inadequate maintenance and abandonment because of the property’s worsening condition since the end of November 2013, when the (Code Enforcement Officer) contacted the property owner to inform him of the problems,” the order reads.

Specifically, selectmen contend that the building’s back wall has collapsed, and the roof line is sagging and in possible risk of caving in. There is hazardous debris and trash heaped on the front porch and around the property.

The order gives Leon Morse, the building’s owner, 60 days to clean up the debris and the collapsed back portion of the home.

Morse is also required to give Code Enforcement Officer Rodney Smith and other inspectors full access to the home to determine what steps need to be taken to order to secure the building, “including if necessary demolition,” the order states.

At a public hearing earlier this month, Morse said he hired someone to remove the debris and brought in a dumpster for that purpose, but the long, snowy winter has prevented a full cleanup.

No one has lived in the home since Morse moved out two years ago, but at the public hearing, he denied the building was structurally unsound and said he hoped to renovate it. 

If the order is not “timely complied with” and Morse does not appeal the order to Oxford County Superior Court, selectmen may move forward with the cleanup and possible demolition, the order warns.

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