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Milford doctor ordered to fix house or face hefty fines

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A house damaged during Superstorm Sandy at 63 Hillside Ave. in Milford. The owner has been ordered to repair the home or face fines of up to $800 a day.
A house damaged during Superstorm Sandy at 63 Hillside Ave. in Milford. The owner has been ordered to repair the home or face fines of up to $800 a day.Peter Hvizdak / Hearst Connecticut Media

MILFORD — A local doctor has been ordered by the Health Department to remedy dangerous conditions at his shorefront home damaged in Superstorm Sandy five years ago — including a compromised foundation — or hefty fines that could add up to $100 per day.

Dr. Harvey Armel, a urologist, has been notified of the violations for three years and has been sent numerous warnings and notices about the dilapidated house, although the records obtained in a Freedom of Information request show in many exchanges with Health Department officials he sidestepped the issue.

The house is located close to a children’s playscape, causing extra concern, officials said.

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“Looking at the hole in the foundation gives me pause,” Housing Code Appeals board Chairman Joel Baldwin said at a recent meeting where the case was aired. “I wouldn’t want to see a child get hurt.”

Inspections at 63 Hillside Ave. were sparked by neighbor complaints as early as 2014 in the shorefront area of pristine homes, Health Department records show. Another neighbor complained in February 2017.

A July 2017 notice of violation from the Health Department states “portions of the building’s roof and exterior walls are collapsing and the foundation is visibly compromised and damaged.” The report goes on to state there are missing exterior walls, damage to roof, siding, gutters, overgrown vegetation, debris and broken windows.

Armel couldn’t be reached for comment, but through communication in the Health Department file — and according to what Armel said at a recent Housing Code Appeals Board meeting — the delay in fixing the property is because he is still in a dispute with FEMA.

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But Housing Code Appeals Board members told him at the meeting that a FEMA dispute is irrelevant to his responsibility to secure the structure for safety and cleaning the property.

While Armel may be in a dispute with FEMA, Health Department records reflect that between FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program, Armel received $141,000 for Hurricane Irene storm damage and $55,000 for Superstorm Sandy. That entry was made to the department records July 26, 2017.

The Health Department also recently requested the city’s Building Department assess the structural integrity of the building.

A Heath Department official said Armel has failed to respond to many emails and some other correspondence. Records show he did respond to some correspondence, but without the piece of information health officials have waited for all this years: a written timeline for repair and action on the matter.

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The board has now given him 10 days to submit a written plan of action with other deadlines attached. The Health Department must approve any plan.

Armel looked perplexed at the board meeting when sanitarian Paul Scholz said he sent many emails that went unanswered, but the doctor didn’t dispute the point.

Armel said, “I never understood there should be a written plan of action. I don’t remember that at all.”

Health Director Deepa Joseph told the board the department has extensive documentation of their attempts to communicate with him.

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He was sent a first warning letter in 2014, records show.

“In terms of communication, we really try to work with owners,” Joseph said.

“If these issues are about securing the property, I can do that,” Armel said at the meeting. “I thought we were working together. I had no idea.”

If Armel doesn’t produce an acceptable timeline for repairs in coming days, and meet other time requirements, he will face the standard $100 per day fine for the violations that continues to exist, health officials said. As of the latest inspection there were eight Health Department violations.

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Armel said at the meeting his main structure was damaged during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. He still has an open case with FEMA and there was some action on it recently — FEMA finally agreed to arbitration — although it hasn’t been resolved, he said.

Joseph said some vegetation has been cut, but not enough. She also said some windows have been boarded on structures on the property, also considered a violation of the blight ordinance.

Armel said at the meeting the boarded windows are not because of storm damage, but because of vandalism. He said boarding the windows is all he could do to stop the vandalism.

Baldwin told Armel, “We do sympathize, but the public has to be,” protected.

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The first resident complaint about the house at 63 Hillside Ave. came in 2014 from a neighbor, records show.

Armel was issued a warning letter.

In 2015 the Health Department inspected the property, detailed problems in an investigative report and sent Armel a warning letter.

Another neighbor complained in February 2017 and after inspection the structure was labeled “100% Blight,” according to records.

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Milford Health Department records show a stream of 24 entries into the record by Sanitarian Scholz between March 8, 2017 and July 6, 2017. It appears health officials reached out in many ways to assist Armel in working out the problem.

One states a blight warning letter was sent to Armel on July 15, but it was returned “undelivered.”

In a phone call on March 14, Armel called to tell Scholz he was “fighting” with the National Flood Insurance Program over funds for repair and couldn’t do anything in the meantime. He was told to send a written plan of action by March 24.

On March 24 the Health Department received a letter from an insurance adjuster working for Armel.

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On March 28 Scholz contacted a disaster management official and that official said that Armel hadn’t applied for assistance through FEMA or the state.

There back and forth in the notes about the city trying to facilitate communication with Armel’s adjuster.

It is noted several times there was no progress on the property clean-up.

On July 6 Scholz wrote in his notes that there was no progress to the exterior of the house and that it is “extremely dilapidated throughout.” That entry also notes the property owner had not contacted them for “an update for his appeal for his insurance claim or to give a specific plan of correction for the property.

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Records show that on July 26 the Health Department received copies of emails between Bill Richards, deputy director of emergency management for the city, Armel’s adjuster, Dave Bianchini and FEMA and NFIP officials that showed Armel received $141,000 for Hurricane Irene Storm damage and $55,000 for Superstorm Sandy.

Editor’s note: this story has been updated since it was first posted, to correct the amount of the fines, which is up to $100 per day.

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