A building in downtown Caribou that formerly housed an auto parts store and a food pantry is set to be torn down later this year as the city works to clean up dilapidated properties.
The 9,440-square-foot property at 49 Herschel St. was built in 1945. It was home to Greenier Auto Parts beginning in 1977, then operated as the Caribou Ecumenical Food Pantry from 2009 until the late 2010s.
But roof damage and subsequent water damage from leaks have kept the building vacant and deteriorating in recent years. The city marked the building unfit for human occupancy in 2019 and unpaid taxes — totaling more than $4,000 — have piled up since 2021.
“The building needs to be torn down,” Deputy Mayor Jody Smith said during the July 28 meeting at which the council initially considered bids for demolition.
Judith Greenier, wife of former Greenier Auto Parts owner Walter Louis Greenier II, who died in 2023, transferred the property to the city in April.
Councilors voted unanimously Monday to award the demolition to Thibodeau Trucking and Excavation, the low bidder, at a cost of $34,950.
The city has suggested — as manager Penny Thompson outlined in a May memo — the construction of a smaller commercial building at the back of the property, with a public parking lot occupying the front section of the lot.
But before the building is demolished, the city has contracted with County Environmental Engineering to inspect for “asbestos containing materials.” That process began last week.
The effort to tear down and transform the property is a part of an ongoing campaign by the city to fight blighted properties, which refers to those in a state of disrepair, neglect or abandonment.
The City Council approved an anti-blight ordinance during its July 28 meeting aimed at revamping properties that “adversely affect property values and development and threaten the health, safety, general welfare and economic well-being of [Caribou’s] residents and commercial interests.”
An informal survey conducted by the city in 2019 found that there are likely hundreds of blighted properties in Caribou.
The ordinance outlines the criteria that defines a blighted property, including missing or boarded windows and doors, collapsing portions of a building, a faulty foundation and other hazards, such as a rodent infestation, that are within public view.
It requires property owners to abate the violation within 30 days of receiving notice from the code enforcement officer. If a person fails to do so, they will be issued a “civil violation,” at which point the city may step in to conduct the abatement. The ordinance makes the property owner liable for all costs associated with the process, which should be reimbursed to the city within 30 days of the abatement or a special tax may be assessed.
But city attorney Rick Solman wrote in a May 15 memo that ordinance was redundant, given the property maintenance code the city has already adopted.
“The Property Maintenance Code has much more detail as to various property conditions that constitute violations,” Solman said.
The council moved to approve the ordinance regardless.
Blight is an issue many areas around Aroostook County have recently sought to tackle. The Fort Fairfield Town Council raised concerns brought by residents earlier this summer about dilapidated properties in the town. In July, town manager Aaron Huotari brought up the possibility of the town itself abating the most “egregious” violations and invoicing owners for the expense — a similar process to what Caribou would approve just weeks later.
