Council might condemn two substandard houses

Published 6:22 pm Thursday, April 7, 2016

CITY OF WASHINGTON
FACING DEMOLITION: Two houses, including this one at 809 W. Ninth St., could be condemned and torn down if the City Council makes that decision Monday.

Washington’s City Council, during its meeting Monday, is scheduled to consider condemning two houses as unsafe and awarding contracts to demolish them.

One house is located at 809 W. Ninth St. The other house is located at 811 Van Norden St. St. Clair Trucking submitted the low bid of $5,000 to demolish the house on West Ninth Street. Taylor’s Hauling and Grading submitted the low bid of $3,900 to demolish the house on Van Norden Street.

The city contends the owners of the house on West Ninth Street — James Williams, Bertha Dudley and others — have been given reasonable opportunity to bring the house into compliance with applicable standards in the City Code and state statutes and failed to comply with the city’s order to remedy defective conditions. The city also contends the owners of the house on Van Norden Street — unknown heirs of Bessie Bailey Jones Vest, the unknown heirs of Robert Lee Bailey and others — were afforded reasonable opportunity to bring the structure into compliance with relevant standards in the City Code and state statutes and failed to comply with the city’s order to correct defective conditions.

If the city hires an entity to demolish the houses, the cost of those demolitions “shall constitute a lien against the subject property and shall also constitute a lien on any other real property of the owner of the subject property located within the City limits or within one mile thereof except the owner’s primary residence,” according to the City Code. That means the lien against the property must be satisfied before the property can be sold or transferred to a new owner.

In recent years, the city has become more aggressive in dealing with structures that do not meet the minimum housing code and/or building codes.

Several years ago, the city adopted an ordinance designed to prevent property owners, particularly owners of significant historic properties, from allowing their properties to essentially be demolished by neglect.

The council meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Council Chambers in the Municipal Building, 102 E. Second St. To view the council’s agenda for a specific meeting, visit the city’s website at www.washingtonnc.gov, click “Government” then “City Council” heading, then click “Meeting Agendas” on the menu to the right. Then click on the date for the appropriate agenda.

About Mike Voss

Mike Voss is the contributing editor at the Washington Daily News. He has a daughter and four grandchildren. Except for nearly six years he worked at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in the early to mid-1990s, he has been at the Daily News since April 1986.
Journalism awards:
• Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, 1990.
• Society of Professional Journalists: Sigma Delta Chi Award, Bronze Medallion.
• Associated Press Managing Editors’ Public Service Award.
• Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Public Service Award, 1989.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Investigative Reporting, 1990.
All those were for the articles he and Betty Gray wrote about the city’s contaminated water system in 1989-1990.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Investigative Reporting, 1991.
• North Carolina Press Association, Third Place, General News Reporting, 2005.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Lighter Columns, 2006.
Recently learned he will receive another award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Lighter Columns, 2010.
4. Lectured at or served on seminar panels at journalism schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Mary Washington University and Francis Marion University.