Community Corner

Residents Vacate Condemned Washington Towers Apartments [PHOTOS]

Given only 48-hours notice, residents of the Washington Towers Apartments were forced to vacate by 12 p.m. Friday

The Washington Towers apartment complex in was a beehive of activity Friday morning, as soon-to-be-former residents rushed to meet a noon deadline to evacuate the condemned property.

Township officials began to investigate the 80-unit property in early February, after were discovered during routine building inspections. Follow up inspections revealed further violations, causing the township to assess the building's owner, Bilal Mian, $1,069-per-day in fines. The dispute between Mian and Whitemarsh Township reached a , when the township officially condemned the property and gave residents 48-hours to vacate.

“Once we condemned the property, it was unsafe," said Bob Hart, chairman of the Whitemarsh Township Board of Supervisors, in an interview with 6ABC. "To extend [the deadline] a week was really impossible for us.”

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While some of the residents have found places to stay with family and friends, others have yet to find a temporary home while the apartment buildings are repaired and brought back up to code.

"If we had known earlier, maybe we could have made arrangements," said Esther, a resident of Washington Towers, who said she was unaware of the numerous code violations. "48-hours? Are you serious? Really?"

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Assistant Township Manager E.J. Lee went on record as saying the township will do everything that it can to , but calls for further comment have gone unanswered as of this afternoon. Township officials have also stated that the complex owner is attempting to relocate the families into other properties that he owns, and area hotels have reached out to the newly-displaced residents, according to a report by 6ABC.

Though no timetable has been given to bring the building up to code, Christopher Steward, who serves as counsel for the Washington Towers, said that they intend to correct the violations as quickly as possible.

The Colonial News reported late Friday afternoon that Mian met with township officials and agreed to put up displaced residents in local hotels.


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