Fire sways city to rethink
|
During the fire, it was discovered the Dinty Moore building on Spring Street was missing something. When firefighters attempted to enter that building to fight the blaze, they discovered the building was without a floor. Anyone who opened the door and took more than one step inside would have fallen about 10 feet. Firefighters luckily escaped injury.
After the fire, questions were raised about the city’s intentions in removing debris and cleaning the area. Even in the Historic District, property owners are responsible for cleanup ‘ not the city. Changes being made to a historic building are regulated, but there are no regulations to require an owner to improve or repair a building.
In the case of any burned or dilapidated building within the city limits, the city can remove a structure deemed unsafe and then bill the owners and put a lien on the property to get payment. Other than unsafe buildings, it is the property owner’s responsibility to repair a building or clean up debris from a fire.
City administrator David Rutherford wants officials to consider working closely with property owners to fix up the buildings.
‘We are trying to keep our town nice,’ said Rutherford during a Tuesday meeting of the Street and Sanitation Committee. ‘Until we get busy working with property owners to get the buildings stabilized and get them useful, it is going to continue like this. You are the ones who make that decision,’ he told aldermen.
As for the burned buildings on Main Street, the city has only a few weeks before the Highland Rim Cycling Classic comes pedaling into town. Before that time, Rutherford hopes the burned buildings are cleaned.
‘I don’t mean to be unsympathetic to the property owners, but this is something we need to get cleaned up,’ Rutherford said.
According to Alderman Jimmy Haley, the owners of 207 E. Main, Mel and Janice Dixon, have been working diligently with volunteers to remove the debris from their destroyed property.
Because the couple just went through the loss of their home, Mayor Royce Davenport is not willing to support any action toward them at this time when some property owners have had years to repair their buildings.
‘There are properties that haven’t been fixed in umpteen years and we’ve never gone in and said you must do this or that,’ said Davenport. ‘I’m not in favor of jumping on somebody who just went through a bad situation and telling them they have two weeks to clean it up. We’ve had stores down there that have been eyesores for 30 years.’
In agreement with Davenport, Vice Mayor Donald Hillis believes the city should give them time and look into a temporary wall that could be place to block off the area. With hinges, access to the area could be obtained and locks can be used for property owners to secure the area.
Although is up to officials to decide where to start the process, Rutherford wants them to consider starting somewhere and going citywide, ‘Pick the place you want to start, because you have to start somewhere, and then go citywide,’ he said.