Columbia Street eyesore due to be demolished

Thursday, September 18, 2014
The ramshackle home at 401 W. Columbia St. is really only visible from the Jefferson Street side of the property thanks to overgrown bushes, trees and weeds at the site. The house, recently acquired by a new owner via a foreclosure sale, is expected to be demolished over the next 60 days.

Its days are finally numbered for a dilapidated old house on Greencastle's West Side, ravaged by time and so overgrown by bushes, trees and monster weeds that its front door is barely visible.

The ramshackle brick house at 401 W. Columbia St. -- once home to a local church congregation and reportedly the onetime centerpiece of a 200-acre homestead just three blocks west of the courthouse square -- will be coming down over the next 60 days, the Greencastle Board of Public Works and Safety learned Wednesday evening.

The house was sold on a foreclosure, City Planner Shannon Norman reported, and the new owner assumed control of the property on Sept. 11. He has 60 days to complete demolition of the structure at the corner of West Columbia and Jefferson streets

Because of the cooperation of the new owner of the property, the city "won't be expending any money" on taking down the eyesore or removing the overgrown vegetation, Norman said.

A recent tour of the property has determined the building has been compromised by years of neglect and exposure to the elements.

Although the home is one of the oldest in the district, there is literally nothing of value that can be salvaged, Norman told the board.

The second floor is partially collapsed and "you can see daylight if you look up," she said after being inside the house.

Fire officials, Norman noted, couldn't get more than 20 feet inside the building without getting into a precarious position that might have found them falling into the cellar of the home.

"It needs to be demolished," Norman said pure and simple.

Dealing with such unsafe structures hasn't always been that easy, Norman assured.

"So it's one down ..." Mayor Sue Murray commented in praising the cooperative effort that is expected to see a longstanding issue rectified.

"One down," Norman sighed in agreement.

In other business, the Board of Works:

-- Unanimously approved a one-time sewage rate adjustment of $1,885 for Terry and Linda Hoffa on their rental property at 306 Sycamore St. A waterline recently burst and leaked into the crawl space at the home, causing excessive water loss for a property that normally is billed $31.08.

"You could hear it," Hoffa said of the leak he found when he entered the house. His tenant, however, neglected to report it, and "I might add," Hoffa said, "he's no longer a tenant."

-- Approved the Board of Fire Captains' recommendation to promote Robert Beebe to shift captain, succeeding Kyle App who was recently promoted to shift captain for the Greencastle Fire Department.

"We have a very young department now," Fire Chief Bill Newgent commented, noting that two firefighters are eligible to retire but have not sought out that status thus far.

-- Heard Newgent report that a campaign is under way to solicit new volunteers for the department with positions available for five volunteer firefighters. Three or four applications have been received thus far, Newgent said.

-- Learned that the annual Greencastle Fire Department open house is scheduled for 4-7 p.m. Oct. 2 in celebration of October as Fire Prevention Month.

-- Approved a notice of award for Energy Conservation Solutions on two Stellar grant-funded owner-occupied rehabilitation projects, 112 Bloomington St., $5,885; and 211 Bloomington St., $17,128; and for Hopkins Home Improvement on three Stellar grant-funded owner-occupied rehabilitation projects, 112 Bloomington St., $15,949; 306 N. Jackson St., $15,975; and 211 Bloomington St., $13,519.

"We still have some (owner-occupied) applications coming in," Mayor Murray said of a project for which the area has been extended to include the entire city limits of Greencastle, "so I'm not sure we're finished yet."

Joining Mayor Murray for the 20-minute Board of Works session at City Hall were board members Trudy Selvia and Thom Morris along with Clerk-Treasurer Lynda Dunbar.

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