ROCKLAND, Maine — The city has yet to decide what to do with two properties it acquired last week for nonpayment of a combined $492 in sewer fees.
The city acquired Friday a former gas station at the busy intersection of Camden and Maverick streets as well as a three-unit apartment complex on Talbot Avenue.
City Manager James Chaousis said he has asked the assessor and code officer for reports on the properties before he brings recommendations to the City Council on what to do with them.
The former gas station and garage at 59 Camden St., also known as Route 1, consists of the former garage and nearly one-fifth acre. The property had been the Harry French automobile repair shop for 35 years until he retired in 2007 and has sat vacant for the past nine years.
The lot was the subject of an environmental cleanup in 2010 because of spillage from fuel tanks.
The property, valued by the city at $206,600, is owned by Rockland Plaza LLC. The contact listed with the property, Mark Patel of Biddeford, could not be reached for comment.
The foreclosure occurred when Rockland Plaza failed to pay $270 in a sewer fees. There had been a lien on the property for those fees since October 2014.
The city had sent out multiple notices to the owner and tried to reach Patel by telephone but with no success.
The city also foreclosed on the three-unit apartment complex at 56 Talbot Ave for nonpayment of $222 in sewer fees.
The property had been owned by Ronald and Pattie Monize of Waldoboro, according to city records. Registry of deeds records, however, show that Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. was foreclosing on the property. The city sent out multiple notices to the bank before the foreclosure.
That property, which includes a building constructed in 1858, is assessed by the city at $218,200.
Foreclosures because of unpaid property taxes or sewer fees are automatic.