NORTH HUNTINGDON, Pa. — After a nearly three-year court battle, North Huntington was able to demolish the old Rivertowne Pub and Grill earlier this year.
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A camper trailer and two SUVs are on the property, and people are allegedly living there.
“The trailer was here when we tore down the building,” said township manager Harry Faulk.
“Do you know how long they may have been here?” Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek asked.
“I do not know,” Faulk said.
One neighbor told Channel 11 that people have been there for years, even though the township said that’s not the case.
“They’ve been there for a few years, back even when the building was still there being dilapidated,” said Mike Sorochak. “But they’ve been there for a while.”
Faulk said the Code Enforcement Office received complaints about the apparent squatters, specifically about the trash they’ve thrown from the camper on the property.
“Would you like to see them sort of clean that whole area up and have them move?” Havranek asked Sorochak.
“Yeah, I would,” Sorochak said. “I would just because of what’s there and like they said, sometimes the garbage is there and vehicles park back there. Safety, health reasons, yeah. I don’t even know how they’re getting power to their trailer.”
While you’re standing near the camper, you can hear what sounds like a generator giving it power. It doesn’t appear the camper is hooked up to any water or sewage lines.
The township talked to a man in the camper a few weeks ago.
“We’ve spoken with that occupant, he said he was going to move his trailer to another location to rehome it, however, he has not done so,” Faulk said.
Now, the township is giving the occupant an ultimatum -- move out in 20 days, by mid-June -- or the township will take legal action.
“If they do not vacate the property, we’re going to look at all of our legal options of moving the trailer ourselves, we’re going to take them to magistrate court, anything we possibly can within our legal confines,” Faulk said.
Aside from clearing the occupants from living here illegally, the township wants to prevent the trash tossed on the property from bringing rodents, posing other health and safety risks.
Faulk is glad neighbors filed complaints with the township so they can address it.
“We have one code officer that oversees 14,000 properties over 27 square miles, so it’s hard to be everywhere every day,” he said. “So, we’re complaint-driven. We receive these complaints, we go out and investigate it and work diligently to resolve these issues.”
As for the vacant property, the township said it has liens against it, so before the owner decides to build on it, or sell it to a new developer, those liens would have to be settled.
The township is hopeful that a new developer can come in and put a new business there now that the old Rivertowne building has been demolished.
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