https://www.recordonline.com/news/20190 ... ate=ampart MONTICELLO — Just up the road from Kathleen Gray's home on Nelshore Drive is what she calls
an "incredible eyesore."
That's probably putting it nicely.
More than a year ago, a fire destroyed the house at 27 Nelshore Drive, and the rubble remains. The building is boarded up, the roof collapsed and the driveway littered with charred debris.
Gray, a co-founder of the Nelshore Drive Neighbors Association, is frustrated with that home, as well as a litany of other code violations on the street.
"These issues are longstanding; we've complained," Gray said. "Most of the time, the village does not get back to us."
But Code Enforcement Officer Ronald Singer said he's heard their complaints and acted on them.
Gray sent an email Dec. 10 to Monticello officials, including Singer, that included pictures of piles of garbage and calling out specific addresses. Singer went out there the next day.
He said he spoke to residents and they agreed to clean up.
"The thing is, it's easier to have someone voluntarily comply, because if I go the route of violations, it's time-consuming, things get adjourned," Singer said.
However, weeks later, some of the violations persist.
Singer pledged on Monday to drive through the neighborhood more often. Later that afternoon, he stuck new violation notifications on several houses, including 2A Nelshore Drive, which has debris at the side of the house.
Dawn Tyler has lived there for four years and said the rubbish was present when she moved in. She rents the home and has tried to reach her landlord about removing the trash.
"He's not responding," she said.
She's currently looking for another way to have the trash removed.
Singer shares the neighborhood's frustrations, with regard to the burned-out home in particular.
"The big problem I have is with that 27 Nelshore, that burned-down house," he said. "I'm issuing violations and I'm not getting a reply."
The next step is taking the owner to court to compel them to begin the demolition process.
Another concern Gray and other neighbors have reported is what they say is an illegal synagogue at 50 Nelshore Drive.
Google Maps identifies the names of what it says are two synagogues at that address: Tehiloh L'dovid and Monticello Bis Madrish.
The neighborhood isn't zoned for a religious building and the temple has often attracted traffic, with parked cars that would fill up the street, according to Gray.
A man who answered the door at the home declined to comment.
Jay Zeiger, the Woodbourne attorney who represents the owner of the property, did not respond by press deadline.
Singer said the village has taken the owner to court.
Singer first received complaints about the house in the summer of 2017 and eventually stopped work there when he learned people were excavating the cellar and spreading masonry debris in the backyard.
He said he later got access to the interior and found that support beams had been removed during excavation to build a ritual bath.
Eventually, the owner of 50 Nelshore Drive applied to the village for a zoning variance, but it was denied, according to Singer.
The owner also tried to buy a lot that could be used for parking, Singer said.
"Right now, it's kind of in limbo," he said.