Portland officials are ordering occupants of an apartment on Dartmouth Street to leave and keep out as the city steps up its legal pressure to force the building’s owner to address safety and code violations there.
The city posted a notice on the building Friday saying it is not fit for occupancy. It also filed a request in court for a temporary restraining order to prevent people from entering 188 Dartmouth St., one of two apartments in a converted three-story house, city spokeswoman Jessica Grondin said.
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When city inspectors returned to 188 Dartmouth St. Friday, they found the building had no heat and no running water. Pipes had burst in the basement, requiring plumbing work before the building could become habitable.
“It was 32 degrees in the building when we were there,” said Tammy Munson, director of the city’s inspection division. “It’s just not a safe building to be in.”
The apartment has been scrutinized by the city since shortly after a catastrophic fire at another property owned by the same landlord, Gregory Nisbet. The Nov. 1 fire at 20 Noyes St., killed six young adults
The tenants at Dartmouth Street, worried about the safety of their own apartment, triggered a December inspection by the city that found code and safety violations there.
The second apartment in the building, 186 Dartmouth St., has not been cited for serious violations and is not affected by the city’s action.
The Portland Press Herald toured the 188 Dartmouth apartment Thursday and found it had deteriorated in recent weeks.
The front door appeared to have been kicked in, an electric oven was being used to provide heat, and a resident said a burst water pipe had flooded the basement. And residents who have been under a court-ordered deadline to leave the six-bedroom unit by Feb. 15 said squatters had taken over their apartment, stolen personal belongings and caused additional damage to the property.
City inspectors who returned to the building Friday found no one occupying the house but numerous violations remaining.
In addition to the lack of heat and running water, inspectors found numerous fire code violations, including no fire alarm system, locked doors, a blocked escape route, bedrooms without a second exit and missing smoke detectors.
While the notice posted on the door is a first step, the city is asking a Portland District Court judge to bar occupants from re-occupying the building until Nisbet corrects the violations. The court order would give police and the city authority to physically secure the apartment until it is brought up to code, and the power to remove anyone found to be there. Nisbet would be forced to help find interim housing for any tenants of the property who may come forward seeking assistance.
In the same court filing, the city also alleges that 188 Dartmouth St. was a disorderly house, meaning police were called at lest three times in a 30-day period.
Grondin said the police calls related to complaints of drug sales, general disturbances, threats of physical harm and terrorizing, and one instance of burglary. Grondin did not know if those calls generated any arrests.
An attorney for the city, Adam Lee, said he discussed the outstanding violations during a phone conversation Friday afternoon with Nisbet, before meeting with him at the Portland police station on Middle Street, where Lee served him with a copy of the 93-page complaint that was then filed in Portland District Court.
A judge is expected to rule on the restraining order Monday.
The city’s case is slated to go before a judge Monday at 8:30 a.m.
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