A couple lost their multimillion-dollar Nantucket beachfront home to erosion on Thursday when the health department issued an emergency condemnation of the property.
Nantucket, Massachusetts, has been battling beachfront erosion for years. Powerful waves have pummeled the island's beaches, slowly disintegrating them until they can no longer support the beachfront houses. The properties are then exposed to the ocean. Rising sea levels also contribute to the decay.
The erosion is so severe on the west end of the island that George and Marie Frazza's beachfront property at 21 Sheep Pond Road began to collapse early this month. Eight months of decomposition ate away 35 feet of dunes, and a recent storm caused the house's deck to collapse, impelling the Nantucket Health Department to vote for an emergency condemnation of the property on Thursday.
On July 5, the Nantucket Health Department issued a letter to the Frazzas' New York address, alerting them of the condemnation. In the letter, Public Health Inspector Kathy LaFavre notified the Frazzas that their home—which is valued at more than $2.7 million on Zillow—violated several town codes. More conservative estimates on Redfin and Realtor.com value the home from $1.7 million to $1.9 million.
"The dwelling's decking is hanging over the embankment and is falling on the beach, there is no electricity, water or septic service to the dwelling," the letter said. "This dwelling is condemned and will be posted as such."
Newsweek reached out to the Nantucket Health Department on Tuesday via phone and email for comment.
Images of the damaged home were posted on the Nantucket Health Department's most recent agenda. The images show a severely eroded beach with the house leaning heavily to the right.
LaFavre ordered the Frazzas to remove the deck, all septic components and the well within a week of receiving the letter. George Frazza, who is 89 years old, currently resides in a beachfront property in Florida, according to a LexisNexis data analytics report. The Nantucket Health Department sent the letter to Frazza's New York residence, which is where Frazza resided until this month, according to the LexisNexis data.
Newsweek reached out to Frazza on Tuesday via phone and email for comment.
Frazza purchased the Nantucket property in 1995 for $557,500. Property records show that the property was built in 1976. It is more than 2,300 square feet with four bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms and sits on 1.3 acres.
The Frazza property is not the first condemnation that has resulted from beach erosion in Nantucket or on Sheep Pond Road.
A neighboring home at 19 Sheep Pond Road was condemned in September 2010 after it collapsed into the ocean. The entire property is now underwater.
Online news site Nantucket Current reported that town officials are working with residents to establish new access to Sheep Pond Road that diverts homeowners around the erosion. The town also has worked with homeowners to relocate structures out of the decay's path, according to the Nantucket Coastal Conservancy website. At times, the erosion is so bad that homes are claimed by the ocean.
