Lisa Frye wanted to be closer to her parents, so she bought a foreclosed home on Boyd Street in Masury about four years ago and started fixing it up.
“Ceilings, walls, floors, granite, cabinets, (exterior) stone,” she said of the work she has done on her home, and she has more she wants to do.
Frye takes pride in her property, she said.
But, she doesn’t see some of her neighbors taking the same pride in their properties.
830 Boyd St.
Frye started with the fire-damaged mobile home across the street. As of late May, the yard of the mobile home was strewn with construction debris, there were openings where windows had been removed and there were totes full of household goods sitting in the yard.
Frye said she fears kids will get into the mobile home or thieves will be attracted to the totes. On top of that, the place, which has been stripped of its siding and insulation, is an eyesore, she said.
“I can’t look at it anymore,” she said. “I like to sit on my front porch and I don’t even want to do that anymore. I’m sick of it.”
Pete and Janice Korsgaard, who live behind the mobile home, share Frye’s fears.
“Come summertime, that place is going to draw everything,” Janice said.
Dawn Ross, who owns the mobile home, said she had hired a firm to dismantle the home, and she planned to put the totes into storage. However, township Code Enforcement Office Jimmy Ewing said Ross told him the company that was going to remove the home backed out and she’s looking for another way.
Ross, who was living in a camper on the property for a while until the cold drove her elsewhere, said she’s tired of how things have dragged out – the fire occurred in July – but dealing with the insurance company has been a nightmare.
“I understand it’s an eyesore,” she said. “There’s a whole lot worse in Brookfield.”
Ewing inspected the property April 20 and posted a notice of violation on the mobile home a few days later. He asked Ross to remove the mobile home, clean up the lot and empty the swimming pool.
Ross’s property is not the only one Frye has issues with. On a walk around the neighborhood, she pointed out a home with tires stacked all over the property, lots with garbage scattered about, two tires tossed in a ditch, and properties with abandoned trailers and vehicles.
Ewing said he has talked with Chuck Booty, who owns property on Brightview Avenue, and was told that some junk had been hauled away. On April 4, he posted a notice of violation on property at 8072 Wheeler St., asking Earl Sweeney to secure the doors and pick up trash.
Frye said she is not asking her neighbors to commit to full-scale renovations of their properties. She just wants them to clean up.
“It doesn’t take money to keep your place clean,” she said. “You look around and there’s junk everywhere.”
Top photo: 8072 Wheeler St.
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