A blighted building in Lehighton that officials call “dangerous” to firefighters, neighboring businesses and the general public, will soon be demolished.

On Thursday, the Carbon County commissioners approved awarding the demolition contract for 135-139 N. First St., to low bidder Northeast Industrial Services Corp. of Shamokin. The company bid $186,435 for demolishing and clearing the property.

Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said that if you look at the back of the building from the bypass, “it’s a disaster waiting to happen” and said he hopes that the demolition can proceed soon.

He said that windows are missing, there are holes in the floor and the roof is caving in.

Should there be a fire, Nothstein said firefighters would not go inside the structure, but feared for neighboring businesses, which could be lost due to the close proximity.

“It’s a serious concern for safety reasons,” he said.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner added that this is a great starting point in addressing blight. Lehighton has saved three years of Community Development Block Grant funds for the project.

Ahner added that he hopes Lehighton will have a plan for something there after the demolition is complete.

The board also voiced their frustrations at how the process is not in favor of municipalities because buildings like these can change hand several times, deteriorating more as time goes on, before a town can step in and do something about it.

“How to people get away with it?” Ahner asked, noting that this is something the legislators need to fix so buildings like this don’t continue to get sold and sit idle instead of torn down.

“How do you sell a building 10 times with all these violations on it? There should be legislation to not do that,” Ahner said. “You bought it, you own the problem then you fix it.”

The commissioners urged the legislature to address this process.