SANFORD — Lindalee Lambert was outside 60 Riverside Ave. on Monday afternoon, perhaps the last afternoon she would be staying at the 10-unit apartment building, which was condemned by the city back in July.

For Lambert, the presence of vermin in the apartment was the final straw.

The building has been condemned as unfit for human habitation by the city since July 13. As of Monday afternoon, several tenants still lived there, though the condemnation notice to the owner, Hill Street Apartments LLC of Portland, specified it was supposed to be empty by Sept. 13.

“My granddaughter found a rat in her shoe,” said Lambert. She said she doesn’t blame the presence of the rodent on the conditions in the building. She thinks the high water levels in Number One Pond, just across the street, may be the culprit in this particular case. However, things considered, she said, it was time to get out.

As well as the condemnation, the City Council on Sept. 22 unanimously voted to declare the building dangerous under state statutes. That means the owner has 30 days to submit a plan for its rehabilitation, said Community Development Director Ian Houseal.

“If that plan is not approved, the city will demolish the building,” Houseal said on Monday..

Lambert said she and her grandchildren will be moving in with with her daughter a few streets away on the other side of the pond, for the time being. Her son, the children’s father, will be moving in with another family member until they can find an apartment. Lambert said she has been looking for a new place for the family to live for the last couple of months, but has had no success.

“I just can’t take it anymore,” she said of living at 60 Riverside Ave.

One tenant has moved out, Lambert said, and she believes another family is in the process of moving.

The building has a host of problems. Codes Enforcement Officer Jeanne Wood told the City Council prior to their Sept. 22  vote that there are holes in the drywall, missing smoke alarms throughout the structure, an inadequate number of electrical outlets — so tenants are using extension cords and power strips — a clothes washer drains into a bath tub, there are broken floor tiles, blocked windows and windows that are too small for people to escape if there were a fire.

Pine Tree Legal is involved, Houseal said, working on behalf of some of the tenants.

“From my perspective, that is a good thing,” he said.

Tim Ly of MaineLy Property Management told the city last week that he was successful in finding places for tenants to live, Houseal said.

“I said great,” Houseal said.

Still, tenants remain.

At the Sept. 22 City Council meeting, Mayor Tom Cote asked Houseal whose responsibility it is to see that the tenants vacate the building.

“The landlord,” Houseal said.

The owners of the property met with Wood, fellow Codes Officer Jamie Cole and Fire Marshal Patrick Cotter last week to obtain building permits, Houseal said.

City codes require the 1910 structure be brought up to new construction standards, he said, including installing a sprinkler system, and correcting electrical, plumbing and all of the other deficiencies throughout the building.

Today’s construction standard’s are required because the work involved constitutes a 50 percent renovation and because the occupancy permit for the structure was revoked, Houseal said.

Ly did not respond to either phone or email messages seeking comment by the newspaper’s deadline.

Lambert, one of several tenants who attended the City Council meeting, said tenants were told by an employee of MaineLy Property Management  that they didn’t have to leave as long as the building was being worked on. Ly that evening said the employee no longer worked for the company.

Another tenant Walter Stevens, told the council that he and his wife moved into one of the units on Aug. 30 and were told the unit would be upgraded. Stevens said the unit was dirty when they moved in, the work that was done shoddy, and that he and his wife felt they were scammed.

Ly told the council that the employee who rented Stevens the unit should not have done so.

It is unclear how many families remain in the building.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells@journaltribune.com.