Early this year longtime Liverpool landlord and businessman Val Lamont acquired the house at 107 Lake Drive that had been declared an unsafe structure Dec. 1 by the village board of trustees.
Lamont relocated the homeowner, 81-year-old Estelle Linehan and her 39-year-old son Geoffrey Linehan to a house Lamont owns on Hiram Avenue off Old Liverpool Road in the town of Salina.
“She loves it,” Lamont said. “The house has four bedrooms, a sunroom and a nice porch.”
Lamont took it upon himself to relocate the Linehans, said Liverpool Codes Enforcement Officer Bill Reagan.
“Val deserves a lot of credit not only for helping the Linehans find a safe place to live, but he also rented two trucks and used his own people to assist in the move that took place Jan. 3 and 4,” Reagan said.
After a village court-sanctioned inspection of the property on Oct. 31, Reagan and village engineer Greg Sgromo questioned the structural stability of the 835-square-foot house built in 1910. Holes in the roof resulted in significant interior water damage and the chimney was “in imminent danger of collapse.”
National Grid shut off the home’s natural gas and the house had significant plumbing problems, Reagan said.
The property at 107 Lake Drive was last sold in May 1988, when it was purchased for $45,000.
On Nov. 18, Estelle Linehan and her court-appointed lawyer, Robert Baska, appeared before village Justice Anthony LaValle to answer multiple misdemeanor charges of violations the state building code.
“Now that the property in under new ownership,” Reagan said, “the court case against the Linehans is being dismissed.”
After the occupants moved to Hiram Avenue, Reagan inspected the house again.
“I confirmed that our concern for their well-being was more than justified,” he said. “In addition to the structural issues observed during our initial inspection, I observed that the wood studs within one of the exterior walls supporting a portion of the roof have completely rotted away and five roof rafters are unsupported. I also observed severe mold in the bedrooms that was out of sight behind the owner’s belongings during the initial inspection.”
Prior to Lamont acquiring the house, the village installed two sections of metal fencing to prevent damage to the property next door due to the possibility of loose bricks falling from 107’s crumbling chimney.
Lamont said he stepped in because he’s concerned about the way older Americans are being treated.
“Estelle is 81 years old — no one took care of her,” said Lamont, who’s also an octogenarian. “She’s a really, really smart woman who attended Cornell University, and she wants to be independent. Right now I’ve been driving her to the store for groceries every week.”
Lamont’s company, Liverpool Properties LLC, owns the properties at 201 First St. and 110 S. Willow St., which house the Limp Lizard Barbecue and the White Water Pub, respectively. Liverpool Properties is planning to build a shared parking lot in the middle of that so-called basin block. Lamont is presently reviewing demolition estimates from contractors, and hopes to have the house down by springtime.
The property at 107 Lake Drive abuts the Limp Lizard parcel.
