Officials want to level building

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Officials said after several years on the books, the old Allis Chalmers building, located at 124 Sparta Street, will be torn down if improvements aren’t made. (Amy Satterwhite photo)

City officials say they’ve had it with a building they have added to their “unfit structures” list and if action isn’t taken soon, the building could come down as soon as this fall.

McMinnville Codes Director Jim Brock said the structure at 124 Sparta Street, located along the curve coming from Main Street, will be torn down. The structure is best known as the old Allis Chalmers building. He noted the city has tried to work with the property owner for several years to allow for reconstruction.

The structure has been included in codes department office files for years. A 1981 tornado is said to have torn the roof off the building

Brock said previous unfit structure laws did not have much teeth and one lawsuit on the matter was thrown out several years ago. However, about five years ago, officials adopted state law with regard to unfit structures and now have better legal authority to declare certain unsanitary, unsafe, dilapidated or other hazardous buildings unfit.

“We just put it on our unfit structures list for this fall,” Brock said, noting there are several others.

Current procedures are to have a hearing on a problematic structure after a complaint is made, make a decision on whether a structure is unfit and give the owner time to fix the problems. If nothing is done, the structure may be torn down and the city can recover expenses by putting a lien on the property.

Property owner M.R. Sullivan could not be reached by telephone as of press time Thursday. However, records noted a plan to improve the building was reviewed in 1991.

The building is technically included in the city’s historic district and Brock said he will most likely go before the district’s overseeing body, the Historic Zoning Commission, for demolition authorization.

Brock said if codes department officials declare a structure to be dangerous to the public welfare, codes may be allowed to tear it down, but he intends the matter will go before the Historic Zoning Commission as a courtesy. Brock also said officials tend to shy away from cases where people actually reside.