Longstanding Eyesore On Main Street Now Has Structural Issues, City Says
WARSAW — The outside of the home at 1015 E. Main Street has been cleaned up considerably, but now the problem has to do with interior issues.
The Main Street home, adjacent to McKinley Park, had been an eyesore for several years before the owners, Jason and Bobby Wade, were jailed on a contempt charge and eventually cleaned up the backyard and driveway where junk and debris had accumulated.
Many of the items were from a scrapping operation, city officials believe.
The couple was released from jail on a combined $10,000 bond earlier this year and the exterior, to a great degree, was cleaned up.
The couple has since moved out.
But the city realized people were still using the house even though all utilities have been turned off.
At the same time, city officials had growing concerns about the interior of the house, obtained the court’s permission to inspect the interior and found structural problems with the foundation.
In the basement, inspectors found piles of debris that were one- and two-feet deep and that a furnace had been disassembled.
The city inspector also indicated that it appeared people had been entering the house and using buckets to hold human waste.
The condemnation notice prohibits people from living in the house, but officials are aware of some people coming and going.
At one point, officials believe somebody stretched a power cord from the house to the park to tap into electricity, said Code Enforcement Officer Dana Hewitt.
In a related development, the property’s taxes were paid up earlier this week at a sheriff’s tax sale by somebody other than the couple, Hewitt said during a code enforcement hearing Tuesday, Oct. 29.
Whoever paid the taxes may well try to work with the owners to make repairs or sell it.
As a result, the code enforcement case could go on for up to a year, Hewitt said.
Neither of the Wades attended Tuesday’s meeting.
Hearing officer Thomas Earhart said he’d like to know more about what is planned by the person who paid the taxes. The case will be reviewed again at the next code enforcement hearing on Dec. 10.
In other matters, three cases were dismissed after property owners met their obligations to bring their properties into compliance. Those include Brendt Smith’s property on 416 W. Winona Ave., Patricia Smith’s property at 721 N. Cook Street and Ralph Fitch’s property at 500 Chinworth Court.
Code Enforcement is also tracking several other cases that were put on the agenda for the Dec. 10 meeting. Those include;
- The hotel at 3521 Lake City Highway. The roof sustained heavy damage earlier this year.
- 530 N. Park Avenue, where property owner George Ruckman pledged to have the house in compliance by Dec. 10.
- Little Crow Lofts, 201 S. Detroit St., has received complaints about debris falling from some ceilings, and some windows being leaky. The city was told plans for repairs are being made.