Hammond board issues raze orders

Talk about it

Two Village of Hammond homes have 45 days to remedy their current conditions before the village intervenes and fixes the problems itself.

A home on Fifthian Street, owned by Mark Maple, and a home on Davis Street, owned by Gary Olson, face raze orders if their current condition is not greatly improved in 45 days.

The village has been working with Maple for years to get his home off blocks and set onto a permanent foundation.

For a while it appeared Maple wanted to work with the village to solve the problem; however, recently it was discovered that the home has fallen into foreclosure.

“My sense is that if it’s being foreclosed on, he’s given up on it,” said Tim Scott, village attorney.

Scott said he did some research and found that it would cost more than 50 percent of the home’s assessed value to do the work needed to make it inhabitable.

The board issued an extended grace period for the raze order in the hope that the foreclosing bank might do something with the property before it’s razed.

The other home, owned by Olson, was damaged in a fire on Feb. 23. The structure was completely destroyed by the blaze and has now become an eyesore on Davis Street, the board said.

The Olson family has been working to remove personal items from the home and likely wants the matter resolved just as badly as the village board does, said one meeting attendee.

Scott said the board does have the option of declaring the property condemned, which would allow them to raze the structure and buy the property for alternative use.

Trustee Erin McComb wondered if a neighboring business would be interested in the property once the damaged home was removed.

The board unanimously approved the issuance of a 45-day raze order to the Olson family; however, the cause of the fire is still under investigation, which means it will likely take longer than 45 days to resolve the matter.

In other news, the board:

• Discussed and approved the initial plan for the Davis Street project. The project, which includes street and stormwater improvements, also includes new lighting. The seven new 30-foot lights will be installed and managed by Xcel Energy and are expected to cost $18,300 – significantly less than what was estimated earlier. McComb said it would be nice to use the saved money from the lighting project to extend the sidewalk past the railroad tracks to an adjacent neighborhood. Public Works Director Rod Turk has identified Davis Street’s infrastructure is the oldest in the village as far as sewer, water and storm water are concerned. An informative meeting regarding the project is planned for March 26. The public hearing is slated for April 9.

For the complete story, see this week's New Richmond News.

Tags: local government, hammond, wisconsin