Lansford Borough Council on Thursday ended a lease with a local business for space it rented at the former Silberline complex along Dock Street.

Council is giving “all entities doing business as Construction Clearance” 120 days to totally vacate all of the borough-owned properties.

Councilman John Zym pointed out that the business had piled porcelain tile, sinks and bathroom fixtures outside one of the buildings on a walk-through the property earlier this month.

Pallets of flooring tile — many open and broken — are tucked behind trailers on the site. Some two dozen trailers are scattered throughout the site, and empty pallets are stacked high.

More bathroom sinks, pallets and decaying cardboard boxes are piled up on a dock of a building not rented by the firm, and the main Silberline building, which is across from the former borough garage, is filled with boxes of merchandise.

Construction Clearance rents only the building on the eastern side of the complex and was not paying rent for some two dozen trailers on the site or for using the main building as a warehouse, Council President Joe Genits said.

Council has been dealing with delinquent rent payments on the property off and on for years and wanted the trailers parked throughout the site removed last year.

Councilwoman Michele Bartek recently addressed the back rent with businessman and owner George Atiyeh and received a partial payment. Genits also met with Atiyeh, who agreed to monthly rent payments of $2,000 plus extra to catch up on back rent.

Atiyeh owed approximately $14,000 in back rent to the borough, said Genits, who wanted council to sit down with him in executive session to discuss the issues at the complex.

He hoped to discuss getting additional payment for storing merchandise in buildings not currently rented and also for the more than 20 trailers on the massive site, he said.

Council instead moved ahead with eviction, giving the business until the end of the year to vacate the property. Genits said the firm will be given notice in writing, and the buildings will also be posted.

In 2023, the borough also sought to evict Construction Clearance due to back rent, and the firm pushed back due to water infiltration issues damaging inventory. At that time, Julia Atiyeh, George’s daughter, said the firm no longer stored inventory in the large Silberline building due to health issues suffered by her employees.