Church demo bill dumped on City
RED OAK — Conversations continue on the future of 411 E. Hammond St., a dilapidated former church the Red Oak City Council wants demolished.
The structurally unsound, 2,475 square-foot building was purchased for $152 at a tax sale in early 2012 and has since been operated under an LLC.
Kirojen LLC owner J.L. Spray of Nebraska stopped paying taxes on the property years ago, according to City Administrator Brad Wright, and has, for all intents and purposes, “walked away” from the property, leaving the City responsible for obtaining a tax certificate in order to demolish the building.
“We have very little recourse here,” Wright said. “Anything we would do to try and pursue legal action or get a court order or anything involved to enforce tearing down this property or to get the City the right to go in and demo it, the only recourse then we would have to recover costs is assessment against their taxes, which they’re not paying anyway. The only thing we do by pursuing legal action is incur more costs.”
Attorney Bruce Swanson, who is representing the City in the matter, said in a letter to the Council Spray is willing to pay the City $100 and provide a quit claim deed to the property. However, the City would then be responsible for all costs associated with possible asbestos abatement and demolition.
Original estimates from June 2012 outlined a $30,000 price tag for demolition.
Councilmembers expressed concern with accepting the deed to the property without knowing if there were any liens against it. However, the county will waive the delinquent taxes.
“He just flat intended to stick us with this property, and that’s just wrong,” Councilmember Larry Barnett said. “I like to know what’s out there before I take a property back, even if it is a quit claim deed.”
Wright said he heard the building owner has ligation in Glenwood for similar issues regarding an LLC-owned building.
“If we quit, the dangerous building continues to exist,” Wright said. “He’s not going to clean it up. So if we don’t clean it up I don’t know who’s going to. I don’t like it either, but I don’t see a better option.”
The Council agreed to table the discussion until the next meeting to provide more information on the Glenwood case and to see if there are any liens against the building.
In other business, public hearings on the downtown façade improvement projects were set for June 2 at the regular Council meeting.
The project is broken into two funding sources, Community Development Block Grant and local tax increment financing through the Downtown Urban Renewal Board.
Specific plans will be discussed for both portions of the project at the public hearing, and the City will then begin accepting bids.