KNOX — Michael Venuti has a large new house on a hill overlooking the Bozenkill. He told the town board at its March meeting that what he sees out his window every day is a dilapidated shack across Bozenkill Road from his house.

“The owner died 10 years ago,” he said. The property is 170 feet wide and 150 feet deep and the structure was originally a trailer with a wood section built around it, Venuti said.

The property adjacent to the crumbling building is a crisp-looking three-bedroom house, at 514 Bozenkill Road, which is for sale, listed at $137,500. “The guy next door can’t sell his property,” said Venuti.

The Albany County assessment roll lists the 514 Bozenkill Road property, with 1.2 acres, at a full market value of $147,548.

Vasilios Lefkadits, who became Knox’s supervisor in January, had asked that the planning board work up a law that would eliminate blight in town.  The planning board chairman, Robert Price, has responded with a written list of concerns.

At the March 8 town board meeting, Lefkaditis raised the issue of dealing with abandoned buildings.

Councilman Earl Barcomb, who had served on the planning board, noted the current stipulation that buildings with nonconforming uses — like the former Highlands Restaurant — have 180 days to be occupied without losing the grandfathered designation.

“One-hundred-and-eighty days is not enough,” said Barcomb. “We need a better mechanism.”

Lefkaditis proposed the planning board look at putting a business district where the now-vacant Highlands Restaurant is, on Route 156 near the intersection of Route 157.

This discussion preceded Venuti’s appearance before the board toward the end of the four-hour meeting. John Dorfman, the town’s attorney, told the board that, at the direction of a previous board, he had looked into the matter.

“The bottom line is,” Dorfman said, “a minimum of two junk vehicles” is required for the town to clean up the property.

“You’ll never get a penny,” Dorfman said. “The county is afraid to take title,” he said, since there are concerns about oil.

The property has dozens of discarded tires, many of them piled up in back of the building and some inside. There are also parts of two vehicles in tall grass behind the building.

Dorfman said there were “160-odd tires” and he and Highway Superintendent Gary Salisbury were going to estimate the cost of having the highway department take out the tires.

“Other properties offend me,” said Lefkaditis, referring to neglected buildings in Knox, particularly “eyesores” owned by out-of-town residents.

Robert Stock, a Knox native and farmer, warned from the gallery that one person could be offended by a property that another person considered useful. Lefkaditis said he made a good point.

“His situation is different,” said Dorfman of the Bozenkill Road property. While the town does not have laws in place to deal with blight, he said, “Our zoning code does have the power to resolve this problem.”

“We can’t touch the structure,” said Lefkadits.

“When the tires come out, it’s going down,” said Dorfman.

“It’s a skeleton,” said Salisbury.

Price said he agreed. “If you take just the cars and tires, you’d be OK,” he said. “Don’t touch the building.”

“Could the county offer it for sale?” asked Barcomb.

“Anyone could buy it for $100,” answered Dorfman. The county was concerned about plastic containers that could have held contaminants, he said.

“I spoke to the DEC,” Dorfman said of the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation. “It was looked at informally; the consensus was: No problem.”

Dorfman also said he met with three of the five children of the deceased owner. “No one in the family wants it,” he said. The town could buy it for $100.”

“If the county accepted $100, they would be assuming responsibility,” said Price.

Venuti said his neighbor, Charles Medich, who is selling the house next to the run-down property, had been interested in buying it. The county was concerned about contamination, he said. “He’s in Virginia now,” Venuti said of Medich.

Lefkaditis termed it “a disaster, especially since you built a beautiful home. I’m inclined to remove the vehicles…What do we need legally?”

A letter to a family member of the deceased owner would need to be sent from the town’s building inspector, said Dorfman; the family member will have 30 days to respond.

“They’ll ignore it,” said Price.

That will allow the town to move ahead with removing the tires and vehicles.

“I appreciate the effort,” said Venuti.

Corrected on March 26, 2016: This story originally ran with a picture of a large modern house on the hill directly across Bozenkill Road from the abandoned shack. The house belonged to Michael Venuti's next door neighbor.