A Lansford street will likely remain closed until the borough can determine what to do with a towering, double-block home that is in danger of collapsing.

Borough officials blocked off access to a portion of West Snyder Avenue near Klocks Hill Road about two weeks ago.

Half of the home at 151-151½ W. Ridge St. is buckling and in danger of falling down.

The borough wants to tear down the 151 side of the home, which damaged by fire in the 1990s, but 151½ side can’t be classified in danger of collapse following an inspection last week.

“We are stuck in the same position as a number of other municipalities right now where you got half of a house falling down and the other half is OK,” Council President Bruce Markovich said this week.

But the borough can’t tear down only half of the house, he said.

“The other half of that house can’t stand (alone), according to the engineers, because it’s five stories. It can’t stand,” Markovich said at a committee meeting Tuesday.

The borough may have to pay any liens, loans or obligations against the good side before it can move forward and raze that half, he said.

“Unless in the meantime, it falls down,” Markovich said. “If 151 collapses and takes 151½ with it, then we can take both of them down.

“But the way it stands right now, we can only take one down, and technically, we can’t even take that down, because the other half can’t stand by itself,” he said.

An estimate on razing the entire double home came in around $110,000, Markovich said.

“That’s a lot of money, and that was just an estimate,” he said.

On Wednesday night, council authorized borough Solicitor Robert Yurchak to contact the owner of 151½ W. Ridge St. to determine the feasibility of obtaining the property for demolition.

Until the borough has a resolution on the property and can move forward on demolition, the road will remain closed.

“That’s where we stand,” Markovich said. “The road is just going to have to stay closed until we get the situation resolved down there.”