HAVERHILL, Mass. — Haverhill City Council held a special session on Friday afternoon to discuss the situation with the old mill building on Stevens St. Three teens were charged with arson after they allegedly set fire to the building on April 28th.
Fire crew from neighboring towns rushed into the area near Downtown Haverhill to help put out the flames. More than a week later, crews are on scene monitoring hot spots while police patrol the perimeter.
The city decided Friday to spend $5M in taxpayer dollars to demolish the remaining structure.
“It’s been an all-deck-on-hands situation for the entire city,” Haverhill City Councilor President Timothy Jordan said. “We don’t have any other option. We have to take this down. It’s a liability.”
All city councilors voted yes, while one abstained, and two were absent.
“It was a doozy of a fire, and we want to get Stevens St. open so those businesses can reopen,” Mayor Melinda Barrett said. “We also want our air quality to be safe for our residents and surrounding areas. We are left with little choice.”
Charred bricks remain with the unstable shell of the old mill. The mill was set on fire back in 2015. Multiple people were charged for arson back then as well. Since that fire, the building has been abandoned.
Mayor Barrett says the structure is dangerous is left up. While the perimeter is fenced off, the police are there making sure nobody hops over into the mill. The extra patrols and firefighters monitoring the hotspots cost the city tens of thousands of dollars. They want to get rid of the building quickly. She says the owners of the property now live in Florida and claimed “they don’t have the capacity” to front the demo cost.
During the meeting, Jordan said they’d work with the governor and state to try and get “relief” when it comes to getting the $5M returned back to Haverhill. He also said they could file a lawsuit against the property owners but said it’s like “chasing an empty bag.”
People living in town understand the old mill needs to come down, but wish their tax dollars weren’t paying for it.
“I don’t know why the city is going to pay for it if someone owns the land still,” Haverhill Resident Adam Bayoussef said. “It’s been sitting derelict for years. I think they need to take responsibility for that. I don’t think we should put our money towards that. That should be going more to investing downtown or the local schools and things like that.”
It’s too soon to say what could be built in its place. There may need to be testing to make sure the ground is safe to build on. That final say could come from the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Boston 25 will let you know when demolition begins and if the state is able to recoup any of the money.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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