Board decision reinstating "castle house" demo order appealed
Sep. 11—The man responsible for the vacant "castle house" in Green Ridge wants a judge to reverse a recent Scranton housing appeals board decision reinstating a demolition order for the unique yet dilapidated structure.
The late Russian artist Elena Flerova bought the house at 1021 Richmont St., known as castle house for its cone-capped turret, in 2002. The city condemned the house in 2013, and issued a demolition order in 2015, but didn't carry through after some neighbors advocated for sparing it.
Among other subsequent actions, the board granted an extension on the demolition order in 2018, to accommodate the potential sale of the property. Officials said a year later that little or nothing had apparently been done to maintain, rehabilitate or find a buyer for the house following the demolition reprieve.
The board ultimately voted in July to reinstate the demolition order, after a city official and frustrated neighbors offered testimony in favor of demolition at a July 21 hearing. Yury Abdurakhmanov of Wurtsboro, New York — Flerova's brother and the administrator of her estate — asked the board for more time, but to no avail.
Abdurakhmanov's attorney, Wieslaw T. Niemoczynski, filed an appeal Aug. 23 in Lackawanna County Court seeking to have the board's decision reversed and the demolition order stayed. The vacant house is structurally sound, secure from pests and vermin and not a nuisance to the community, he contends in court documents.
"Demolition of the home is an extreme remedy under the circumstances of the case and would constitute an unwarranted forfeiture to the estate," the filing reads.
Housing appeals board solicitor Michael Genello filed a response noting Abdurakhmanov presented no competent evidence that the house is structurally sound. Evidence of its deterioration and the unsoundness of the rear porch structure was presented, as was evidence that the house is infested with "rodents, pests and/or vermin" and constitutes a nuisance to the community, he wrote.
At the July hearing, neighbor Robert McKeon, who lives behind the castle house, described "deplorable conditions," including wild animals, broken and boarded-up windows and overgrown vegetation. Green Ridge Neighborhood Association President Laura Agostini called it a "detriment to the neighborhood."
Abdurakhmanov's appeal lists several reasons for delays in implementing measures to satisfy city Department of Licensing, Inspection and Permits requirements, including Flerova's death in Russia, the need to obtain legal authority to act for her estate and the effect of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
"It is believed the house has been vacant since at least 2013, when it was condemned," Genello's response reads. "Any pandemic restrictions only existed from approximately March 2020, and lasted at most several months."
The board's decision is fully supported by the facts and the law, he contends.
On Thursday, Genello filed certified copies of records involving the castle house, including housing appeals board transcripts, decision letters and the city LIP Department's file on the property.
A county judge has yet to be assigned the case.
Contact the writer:
jhorvath@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9141;
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