Roundtop Road house in Hempfield to be razed

A Hempfield home that appears to have separated from its foundation will be demolished, township officials said.

Supervisors this week voted to condemn the home at 75 Roundtop Road and have the structure razed.

“It presents a clear and present danger of eminent collapse at some point,” Craig McVicker, building code official, told supervisors during a recent public hearing. “It is not properly secured, at this point it has no ability or no professional design to show structural supports.”

McVicker said he first visited the home in January 2021 after the department was informed the owner was performing structural alterations that included digging around the basement and jacking the house up to gain more head space.

Upon visiting the property the first time, McVicker said the home was vacated and dilapidated, and noted that it was not safely secured.

McVicker said he made contact with the owner and told him a notice of violation was sent and that the property was being posted. He also stated that the owner would need to hire a structural engineer or a licensed architect to design a plan to bring the home into compliance.

Since then, the township has had no further communications with the property owner. A phone call to a number listed for the owner was not returned to the Trib.

“The structure at 75 Roundtop through the last 18 months had continued to decline to the point where I was asked to go back out by the director of public safety for some concerns that were being stressed by neighbors that the house was abandoned, it was open, it was unsafe,” McVicker said.

McVicker visited the property again on June 9 and found that parts of the structure had begun to fail. He then elevated the posting from an unsafe structure to an imminent danger.

The township has put a fence around the structure to secure the property. The fence cost $1,200.

“After discussions with staff it was decided we had to do something,” said James Shaw, director of code and safety. “We couldn’t let children play there, we had to secure it.”

According to township manager Jason Winters, demolition will cost around $9,200.

The township will put a lien on the property and go through Act 90, the Neighborhood Blight Reclamation and Revitalization Act of 2010, to reimburse any money spent by the township, Winters said. The law allows municipalities to go to the homeowner to recoup any money spent on the property.

Winters noted the homeowner was sent a letter; the home can be demolished after 30 days.