Court fines Northwoods at Vernon

VERNON — The Vernon Municipal Court fined Northwoods at Vernon Inc. LLC $672,000 in abstentia on Jan. 15.
Northwoods LLC is located at 3621 Rt 94 in Hamburg NJ. The structure(s) known as “Northwoods” is located at 204 Rt. 94 in Vernon.
A construction violation was issued against Northwoods on Sept. 7, 2012, for “Unsafe Structure.” Defendant was ordered to demolish the building by September 14, 2014. Northwoods ignored the order. Following the compliance date of September 2012, a fine of $2,000.00 per week was than active until present.
Vernon fire officials cited Northwoods on Aug. 28, 2015, for an Imminent Hazard violation. The structure by its very nature constituted imminent hazards to the health, safety or welfare of firefighters or the general public due to the deterioration of the structure.
The Vernon Zoning Department issued additional violations on Aug. 27, 2015, for Abandoned Properties and Unfit Buildings.
The current administration became aware of the situation in July 2016 and pursued this matter.
The zoning officer and the construction official inspected the structure multiple times finding broken windows, stairs, walls and decks collapsed and entrance doors were broken.
The building was in a continued and increasing state of disrepair. Owners made no attempt to abate or cure the situation as ordered.
Over the last 3 years multiple attempts were made to deliver the notices from the zoning and building to Northwoods with no avail as defendant refused to accept service.
Judge Devine awarded $14,000 for zoning violations and $658 thousand for the building department violations. Fire violation hearing is pending.