Two Buildings Condemned

Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.

City officials last week initiated the process for what is likely to end with the demolition of two weathered structures that are deemed unfit for habitation and hence a public nuisance.

A legal term, public nuisance refers to properties or buildings whose condition interferes with neighbors’ use or enjoyment of their own properties; endangers life, health or safety or is extremely unsightly -- what is commonly called an “eyesore.”
Such structures can also constitute an attractive nuisance to children. Which is why local governments are empowered to compel the owners of such properties to correct the situation or face consequences.

Chapter 38 of the Monticello City Code establishes the process by which the city may take action against nuisance properties, beginning with the adoption of a resolution that identifies the structure and the steps undertaken to determine its unsuitability for habitation and public nuisance designation.

This the City Council did on Tuesday evening, Nov. 10, when it took up Resolution 2020-14, which identified a kudzu-overgrown parcel on Olive Street and the two abandoned structures on it as constituting a threat to the public health, safety and general welfare.

City Attorney Bruce Leinback took City Manager Raymond Clark through the legal steps to establish the structures’ unsuitability by asking a series of questions that stemmed from the latter’s inspection of the two buildings in the company of Building Inspector James Kaufman.

Clark described the two structures as being in extreme disrepair, their supports deteriorated beyond repair, the electrical and plumbing nonexistent and the structures nowhere near meeting building codes.

Clark’s recommendation was that the structures be taken down.
At which point, the council voted to adopt the resolution setting the abatement procedure in motion.

Per the resolution, the property owner will be afforded an opportunity to appear before the council on Tuesday, Jan. 5, and provide evidence or testimony why the buildings shouldn’t be demolished.

Should the owner fail to appear at the meeting or fail to provide the necessary evidence, the councill will set a deadline for correction of the problem. Failing that, city crews or a city-hired contractor will take down the structures and place a special assessment lien on the property.

Ever since officials revised the city's public nuisance ordinance in 2009, they have been carrying out a quiet campaign to rid neighborhoods of unsightly and dangerous structures or get condemnation procedure is about to be initiated. In other instances, however, the city has had to take down the structures or clean up the property and place a special assessment lien on the parcel.

In keeping with the requirements of Chapter 38, the city annually publishes several notices in the newspaper informing residents that it's their responsibility to maintain their properties to certain standards or risk the city initiating nuisance abatement procedures against them.