Work at the collapsed property at 119 S. Liberty St. in Orwigsburg has ceased since the emergency conditions necessitating action have abated.

“It’s safe. It’s not going to collapse,” Shannon Darker, code officer for Orwigsburg Borough and employee of Arro Consulting Inc., said Friday.

She said the property will continue to be monitored. The attic portion of the structure collapsed last Sunday. Demolition of the property started Aug. 3 The interior of the building was visible to passers-by Wednesday. The road is open to one lane of traffic.

Employees of SDL Construction in Orwigsburg stopped working Thursday because the structure is stabilized.

“The emergency conditions are no longer in place,” she said of structural concerns with the building.

A barrier was erected previously to protect the immediate area from debris. No one has been injured, Borough Manager Randall Miller said.

The borough issued an emergency declaration Aug. 2, she said.

A Facebook post on the borough’s page Friday said the additional work must be bid out per state law.

“The structure still needs to be removed, the majority of which will be by hand,” the post reads.

The discarded materials will go to a landfill.

The borough condemned the property July 6 prior to a routine inspection which should have taken place years ago but wasn’t because of the noncompliance of the owner. The Schuylkill Parcel Locator lists the owner as Glenn R Frantz.

Leading up to collapse

Darker said she had been monitoring the situation with the property prior to the July 6 condemnation. A week prior she notified Frantz, the six people living at the building, in the three separate apartment units, and the salon owner of the upcoming inspection.

When Darker and the Uniform Construction Code official stopped by, she noticed the structural problems with the bricks. Darker told Frantz the conditions were not safe and the building would be condemned. Utilities were turned off that day, she said.

“He didn’t say much,” Darker said, noting he left soon after.

Legal ramifications

Miller said the cost for the work is coming from the general fund and a lien will be placed on the property.

Darker said the owner has been “very noncompliant” regarding the building previously. She said Frantz didn’t have a valid certificate of occupancy.

“Every three years you are required to get a rental inspection in Orwigsburg,” she said.

The Unified Judicial System lists numerous active cases filed in February involving Frantz and charges for failure to inspect rental units in Orwigsburg. Darker filed several prior cases in November regarding failure to adhere to rental inspections. Court records list the outcome as guilty. An address for where the violations occurred is not provided.

Miller said borough solicitor Paul Datte is in contact with a representative of Frantz. Datte did not return a call for comment.

Neighbors react

Scott Hoffman has lived next door to the property for 12 years and feared a collapse might eventually happen.

“It was a beautiful building. He could have maintained it,” he said.

Miller said he wants borough residents to feel comfortable calling the office about such situations.

“All we want is to make sure the renters in the borough are safe,” he said.

Miller said there are good landlords in the borough.

“You do have landlords that have pride in their communities,” he said.

As a general rule though, landlords need to “step up and take care of their buildings,” he said.