The abandoned car wash at 2516 E. Center Street has had multiple code violations dating back to 2015.

WARSAW — Thomas Earhart was introduced as the new hearing officer during the City of Warsaw Department of Code Enforcement hearing held yesterday, Jan. 9. With only one case on the docket, the meeting moved quickly.

The city has been battling code violations with the abandoned car wash at 2516 E. Center St., Warsaw, for many years. The property, owned by Dash Mesh Properties, Granger, first appeared on the city’s radar in 2015 for various general nuisance violations including overgrown weeds.

Since then, the car wash has remained abandoned and its condition has continued to worsen. Dana Hewitt, code enforcement officer, noticed the large sign starting to crack last August and now parts of the sign have begun to fall apart. Three violation notices were sent to Dash Mesh Properties in 2017 but no effort to clean up the property has been made. A representative of Dash Mesh Properties failed to show up at yesterday’s hearing.

The car wash consists of three buildings, the manual washes, the automatic washes and a small shed. All buildings have been abandoned and neglected. Along with the broken sign, there are many broken windows and holes in various parts of siding and the roof. When the adjacent gas station upgraded their gas pumps recently, the old pumps were left outdoors next to the manual car wash, which is an environmental nuisance.

Without a representative present, there wasn’t much Earhart could do about the issue. He continued the case to the next hearing at 10 a.m. Feb. 15, where further steps will be taken.