Norwich — When Cyndia Shook and Lucy Sullivan bought a house 15 years ago on Lois Street, they loved that stores and eateries were so close by.

They could walk to the Tim Hortons doughnut shop. Longtime local business owners ran Adams Restaurant Equipment a block away, and Starrwood grocery store was a short drive from their home.

“Now, it’s all gone,” Shook said.

The entrance to Lois Street, a residential road that dead-ends at the Shetucket River, now is flanked by vacant buildings on Route 12-Boswell Avenue. To the left is the vacant former Tim Hortons, which briefly housed a chicken barbecue place — Shook said she last got chicken there after the Red Sox won the 2018 World Series — and the long-vacant former Wonder Bar and banquet hall next door.

“That’s the mildest of the blight,” Shook said Wednesday, showing the conditions to Norwich Planning Director Deanna Rhodes and Building Official Dan Coley.

The “last straw” that prompted Shook to complain to city officials came when siding and soffit, or material from under the edges of a roof, from the now-vacant former Adams building at 727 Boswell Ave. crashed onto the sidewalk to the right of the Lois Street intersection. Debris remains on the sidewalk, with another piece dangling from the building, two weeks later.

The women use the sidewalk for walks through St. Mary’s Cemetery just beyond the building. Norwich Public Works placed sawhorses at the debris spot but did not clean up the mess, Shook complained.

With the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity building 10 new homes on Margerie Street off Lois, the blight on Boswell Avenue projects a poor image for the new homeowners, the two women said.

The former Adams building is owned by Zhou Huijing, who lists his address at the building at 727 Boswell Ave., which has no dwelling units. Postal carriers deliver mail through a narrow gap in the front glass doors. Mail had been piling up on the floor for weeks, Shook said, but someone recently collected it and placed it, unopened, including Norwich Public Utilities bills, in a small black bucket inside the door. New mail is piling up again on the floor.

Coley said he sent notices of violation to Huijing at the Boswell address and left a message in the voicemail box of a New York phone number. If the owner fails to respond, the city will clean up the debris and place a lien on the property for the cost, Coley said.

Blight complaint backlog

The Boswell Avenue debris is a new issue, but staffing shortages in the Norwich Planning and Neighborhood Services department has led to a backlog of blight complaints citywide. The city’s blight enforcement officer position was vacant since April, and many enforcement actions have expired, Rhodes said.

The backlog will be turned over to James Harriott, the city’s new blight control and housing code enforcement officer who started Monday. Harriott will start with the former Adams building complaint. He has tracked down a real estate firm with connection to the property and will try to contact the owner through the agency.

Harriott, 37, of New Haven came to Norwich after working six years in property management for the New Haven Housing Authority and three years for New Haven in transportation. He graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in urban and community studies.

Harriott said he has volunteered for the past 15 years for Habitat for Humanity, “building houses from the ground up.” He is also taking on blight firsthand in his New Haven hometown, using his pickup truck in his spare time to collect junk and mowing overgrown lots.

“I’ve always had an interest in quality-of-life issues,” Harriott said. “I wanted to improve things back home in New Haven, something I haven’t had an opportunity to do. Once I saw this opportunity, I jumped at it.”

Rhodes said Harriott’s commitment to improving neighborhoods made Harriott a good fit for Norwich. Harriott will reach out to community groups, such as Greeneville Neighborhood Revitalization Zone Committee and neighborhood watch groups, to discuss concerns and form partnerships to clean up problem areas.

“He really does care about how the aesthetics in a neighborhood affect the quality of life,” Rhodes said. “In the interview, that really came across to us, the interview panel. He takes pride in neighborhoods, and his own neighborhood and his community.”

Rhodes said Harriott can use his volunteer experience to help neighborhood groups organize cleanups and blight prevention efforts.

Shook and Sullivan offered to help clean up the Boswell Avenue-Lois Street area. In the past, the city Public Works Department provided bags for cleanups and collected trash afterward.

Rhodes said residents need to work actively to improve neighborhoods. Norwich recently purchased an online program called Open Gov that will allow residents to enter an address to track blight complaints or file new complaints. The website, norwichct.viewpointcloud.com, also is used for building permit applications.

Harriott can be reached directly at (860) 823-3763 or by email at jharriott@cityofnorwich.org.

Funding for businesses and homeowners

The former Wonder Bar at 701 Boswell Ave. could have a new outlook soon, thanks to the city’s American Rescue Plan Act grant. The city awarded $3.5 million of the grant to the Norwich Community Development Corp. to spur economic development.

Dante Salcedo, owner of Elite Auto Broker next door to Wonder Bar, recently purchased the former bar. NCDC awarded Salcedo a $10,000 grant to assess the structure and needs of the building.

Salcedo said Thursday he does not have a plan yet but hopes to bring new business to the spot. He said he has struggled to keep up his motto at Elite Auto of having affordable “under $3,000” used cars. With supply chain issues plaguing the auto industry, he is looking for a new business venture.

“It could be a couple of ideas,” Salcedo said. “It could be a ballroom, an office for photography or insurance or for a mobile locksmith or a DMV registration center. They’re just ideas now.”

Salcedo welcomed the NCDC study grant and hopes for additional ARPA funding once he develops a plan for the building.

NCDC President Kevin Brown said the other vacant Boswell Avenue commercial buildings, and any commercial building citywide, could qualify for Norwich Revitalization Program money if owners apply for funds with specific plans. NCDC recently announced eight development grants totaling $1 million for projects that have private investment values of over $4.2 million.

Brown said he is working on potential redevelopment of the vacant plaza that had housed the Starrwood Food Market, a bank, Subway sandwich shop and other small businesses. He said it’s too early to discuss details.

The city has aid available for blighted housing, as well, Rhodes said. Property owners should contact the city community development office, (860) 823-3770, for information about lead paint abatement grants and no-interest property rehabilitation loans. The programs are available to homes with qualifying income levels. Rental property eligibility is based on tenants’ income levels.

Wayne Sharkey, lead and rehabilitation officer, said 80% of Norwich housing was built prior to 1978, meaning it likely contains lead paint. The city received a $2.9 million federal lead abatement grant and has allocated $225,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds to property rehabilitation.

Rehab projects that address structural needs and safety issues often can be combined with lead abatement for greater savings to property owners, he said.

The city approves about 20 to 30 properties per year for the programs, Sharkey said, but many people are unaware of the assistance available.

Rhodes said residents who see rundown houses in their neighborhoods should talk to the owners to encourage them to apply for the programs.

“The stakeholders need to be the people who live in those neighborhoods,” Rhodes said. “One blight officer for the city is not going to be able to control everything. If we have partnerships with the community and those neighborhood stakeholders, then I think James (Harriott) can be really successful, and the city can be successful in cleaning up neighborhoods.”

c.bessette@theday.com