Taking on City Hall
LISA HOBBS - News Editor
The city of McMinnville has decided that an abandoned home on Anderson Street should be demolished, but the property owner is seeking a stay on the execution of a demolition order.
“Years ago, I had a person in there who cooked meth inside the home,” said property owner Betty Perry. “I paid $8,000 to have it cleaned. I don’t know if you all know the process. I didn’t. They stripped the whole entire thing. They took everything out.”
She states that she decided to leave the property as it was because she didn’t feel comfortable renting it out. Years passed by and the house sat empty. Recently, she received notification from the city’s Community Development Department that the house was slated for demolition. So, she filed an appeal to the McMinnville Board of Zoning Appeals. That meeting was held Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Perry voiced discontent for how city representatives handled the situation.
“A gentleman called me up and asked me to meet him out there, after we put in the appeal. I really didn’t understand. I thought he was going to show me what he sees is a problem. Looking at it from the road, there’s nothing wrong. You can’t see anything wrong from the road. So, I met him out there and it was a fishing expedition. Because when I ask them, ‘what do we need to do, what are you looking at,’ they wouldn’t answer me. They said, ‘we need the keys to the house.’ I said, ‘I don’t have keys to the house with me. I thought we were here to discuss what we need to do.’ One guy walked around and pushed the back door and said, ‘oh, it’s open.’ He went inside. According to my lawyer, they shouldn’t have done.”
While inside the house, pictures were taken of its condition. Along with foundation issues and holes in the roof that are visible from the outside, the pictures depict a home not fit for habitation: a burnt area in one of the rooms, debris everywhere, sections of the ceiling have fallen in on both floors of the home, walls down to the studs, and subfloor that appears to be ripped out in one area and deteriorating in another.
“They still haven’t told me what needs to be done,” said Perry. “I can see some of the things when we went in, like the ceiling has an issue. We do plan on doing something with this property. We are just trying to decide what that is at this point. I’m asking for time right now, if we can get an extension to give us time to determine what we want to do, because this was just thrown at us.”
Perry said she had the property inspected by Jewell Hale about a year or year-and-a-half ago. She says he stated that the building had “good bones” and that “everything looks good” and it would be a “quick remodel.”
Community Development Director Sean Garrett disputed Perry’s viewpoint on how things transpired that day. He stated that once the door was found to be unlocked, they asked Perry for permission to enter and she gave it.
“The property has not had water for 13 years; It has not had electricity for 14 years, which makes the house unfit,” said Garrett, who recommended that BZA members uphold the demolition order. “Then, on top of that, we’ve had several issues with grass, which has not been maintained. We currently have four liens on the property.”
Those liens were levied from 2017 to 2021. Owed to the city is $3,275.
When asked how much time she’d need, Perry requested at least 30 days to determine if they want to remodel or demolish.
BZA Chairman Jerry Williamson stated his belief that the property would be worth more without the house on it and if it were his, he’d demolish it. As for the request, he stated, “It’s 30 more days. It has been sitting there all this time. I don’t see that 30 more days would hurt.”
Members unanimously approved a demolition order stay of 30 days. Perry was told she must request one of two permits in that time frame: a permit to renovate or a permit to demolish. If neither is obtained, the city’s demolish order stands, and the home will be removed. If she opts to renovate, the city will require that work to begin sooner rather than later.