1 city of pontiac · 1 city of pontiac 2 board of appeals meeting 3 wednesday, august 16, 2017,...
TRANSCRIPT
1
1 CITY OF PONTIAC
2 BOARD OF APPEALS MEETING
3 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2017, 5:00 p.m.
4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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5 Agenda: )
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6 Petitions from )
Building Inspector Dave Moran)
7 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _)
8
9 Meeting before a Board of Appeals at
47450 Woodward Avenue, Pontiac, Michigan, on
10 Wednesday, August 16, 2017.
11 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:
12 Ben Tiseo - The Chairperson
Scott Cope
13 Mona Hofmeister
Kevin Stewart
14
FROM THE CITY:
15
Dan Kolbe - Clerical
16 Dave Moran - Building Inspector
17 OTHERS PRESENT:
18 Lise Kaigler
Juatamein Reed
19 Charles Magill
Joseph Nieves
20 Sharon Muradian
Lee F. Grayer
21 Kiesha Hawkins
Carolyn Masnari
22 Reginald Edwards
Sam Tootla
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2 PROPERTY INDEX
3 ADDRESS ACTION PAGE
4 20 Utica Rd Called 130
20 Utica Rd Remains on demo list 131
5 27 Steinbaugh Ct Called 128
27 Steinbaugh Ct Postponed until Nov 130
6 61 N. Ardmore St Called 47
61 N. Ardmore St Remains on demo list 72
7 77 Maines St Called 118
77 Maines St Postponed until Nov 121
8 95 Mark Ave Called 95
95 Mark Ave Finished in 30 days or demo 100
9 list
118 Edison St Called 114
10 118 Edison St Remains on demo list 117
150 Cadillac St Called 108
11 150 Cadillac St Remains on demo list 109
169 Dwight Ave Called 4
12 169 Dwight Ave Postponed until Nov 11
170 Whittemore St Called 131
13 170 Whittemore St Remains on demo list 132
175 Chippewa Rd Called 109
14 175 Chippewa Rd Garage only demo 110
179 Prospect St Called 11
15 179 Prospect St Postponed until Nov if house 26
unoccupied and permits extended
16 215 Nelson St Called 125
215 Nelson St Remains on demo list 127
17 217 S. Sanford St Called 127
217 S. Sanford St Remains on demo list 128
18 313 W. Huron St Called 80
313 W. Huron St Postponed until Nov 84
19 315 Voorheis St/8 Peggy Called 85
315 Voorheis St/8 Peggy Postponed until Nov 95
20 359 Prospect St Called 27
359 Prospect St Remains on demo list 47
21 499 Colorado Ave Called 111
499 Colorado Ave Postponed until Nov 114
22 546 Bloomfield Ave Called 107
546 Bloomfield Ave Dismissed 108
23 583 Arthur Ave Called 106
583 Arthur Ave Put on demo list 107
24 653 Kinney St Called 117
653 Kinney St Remains on demo list 118
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1 PROPERTY INDEX (Continued)
2 ADDRESS ACTION PAGE
3
654 N. Perry St Called 123
4 654 N. Perry St Postponed until Nov 125
821 E. Pike St Called 77
5 821 E. Pike St Remains on demo list 80
844 W. Huron St/848 W. Huron St/
6 11 Mohawk Rd Called 101
844 W. Huron St/848 W. Huron St/
7 11 Mohawk Rd Garage only demo 106
48720 Woodward Ave Called 72
8 48720 Woodward Ave Postponed until Nov 77
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1 Pontiac, Michigan
2 Wednesday, August 16, 2017
3 5:05 p.m.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: I'll call the meeting to
5 order, please. It's five after 5:00. Could we please
6 stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
7 (Pledge of Allegiance recited by all.)
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. The procedure
9 is that, when you -- if you signed in on the sheet, we
10 will call you first in the order that you signed in.
11 And then please stand at the podium and give us your
12 name and the address and what project you're here for
13 and -- I'm sorry -- what is your relationship to the
14 project. Okay?
15 I'll start with 169 Dwight Avenue.
16 MR. KOLBE: 169 Dwight Avenue is a
17 single-family home. It was inspected on 8-2 of 2017.
18 It was a deteriorated structure.
19 A Property Maintenance Inspection was done
20 and a building permit and plumbing permit were both
21 required.
22 The roof has been replaced. The garage needs
23 work, including scraping and painting. There is
24 overgrown, debris and unkempt, abandoned vehicle in the
25 driveway yet, the chimney is crumbling and the porch
5
1 needs tuck-pointing. The gas meter is on and the
2 electric meter is on. And the front porch is
3 crumbling.
4 The permits have all expired. The applicant
5 was in today to try to extend those permits. I wish
6 she had been in a little earlier to do that but she
7 waited until the 11th hour and we can't do it at this
8 point. But, if there is a very strong commitment to
9 getting some inspections and the work done, we can
10 recommend that this be postponed until the 11-15 Board
11 of Appeals meeting.
12 THE CHAIRPERSON: It says here that new
13 permit was pulled. Is that the old --
14 MR. KOLBE: Yeah, it was an old permit that
15 was pulled and then they re-pulled a new permit --
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
17 MR. KOLBE: -- on it.
18 THE CHAIRPERSON: So this is their -- this
19 is -- that was their second -- that was their first
20 renewal and now you're asking for a second renewal?
21 MS. KAIGLER: Right.
22 THE CHAIRPERSON: All right. Please state
23 your name and the association with the project.
24 MS. KAIGLER: I'm Lise Kaigler.
25 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
6
1 MS. KAIGLER: What else did you need?
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: That's it.
3 MS. KAIGLER: Oh, okay.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: And you're the owner?
5 MS. KAIGLER: Yes, I am.
6 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Tell me what
7 happened. Why isn't it done?
8 MS. KAIGLER: I had --
9 THE CHAIRPERSON: Actually, tell us.
10 MS. KAIGLER: Okay. I had a lot of
11 difficulty with people. I thought I'd have the work
12 contract with them and then they'd back out.
13 So, finally, my neighbor, my kind neighbor,
14 is going to help me paint the garage. And I have a
15 young man that did the crack in the foundation repair,
16 he's going to do the porch for me.
17 I just have to do the last -- I had people
18 lined up to do that and then they backed out. And so
19 that's what's been my issue.
20 THE CHAIRPERSON: But there's -- there's more
21 than that to be done on the house. I heard something
22 about there's a lot of tuck-pointing that needs to be
23 done on the brick work.
24 MR. KOLBE: That's mainly the front porch
25 she's talking about.
7
1 MS. KAIGLER: He's going to --
2 MR. KOLBE: That and the chimney is --
3 MR. MORAN: The chimney is --
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: Oh. So both the chimney
5 and the front porch?
6 MR. MORAN: You're going to need somebody
7 with some knowledge and ability to fix that chimney.
8 MS. KAIGLER: Okay.
9 MR. MORAN: You mentioned the young man that
10 fixed that foundation in the corner there, that was
11 fine. You know, if he's capable of doing that type of
12 work on the porch, I would --
13 MS. KAIGLER: He did a --
14 MR. MORAN: -- have no problem with that.
15 MS. KAIGLER: He did an excellent job. And
16 he was reasonable, too.
17 MR. MORAN: Right. Being on that steep
18 roof --
19 MS. KAIGLER: Yeah.
20 MR. MORAN: -- with the kind of work that
21 needs to be done on that chimney, you're going to need
22 to hire a licensed contractor that's going to do it
23 safely --
24 MS. KAIGLER: Okay.
25 MR. MORAN: -- and correctly.
8
1 MS. KAIGLER: Okay.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: But the first thing you
3 have to do is renew the permit.
4 MS. KAIGLER: Right, right. I didn't
5 remember that part.
6 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. When do you think
7 that you'll be able to do that, if we choose to
8 postpone this again?
9 MS. KAIGLER: Renew the permit?
10 THE CHAIRPERSON: Renew the permit.
11 MS. KAIGLER: Anytime.
12 THE CHAIRPERSON: If she comes in tomorrow, I
13 mean --
14 MR. KOLBE: If you wanted to do it --
15 postpone it with the proviso that --
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: Condition that it be in --
17 MR. KOLBE: -- she would be in by a certain
18 date to --
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: What is it to renew the
20 permit, $200 or something?
21 MR. KOLBE: No, it probably would be about
22 $100 for the time because we got to get it through
23 today and then on.
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: And is only the building
25 permit required; is there any mechanical or electrical
9
1 permit required?
2 MR. KOLBE: No, electrical and mechanical are
3 not required but the plumbing permit is also expired.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: Oh.
5 MR. KOLBE: And that's going to be renewed.
6 She's got to contact who pulled it. So she would not
7 be able to renew the plumbing --
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- permit.
9 MR. KOLBE: -- permit. The contractor would
10 have to make application to do that.
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: Are you able to -- is the
12 contract -- is the plumbing contractor still involved
13 or will be involved?
14 MS. KAIGLER: I have to check on that because
15 I -- I didn't know where -- I wasn't aware that there
16 was a permit pulled for the plumbing. So --
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. You do recall who
18 the plumbing contractor was, though, correct?
19 MS. KAIGLER: Yes, yes, yes. I do, yes.
20 THE CHAIRPERSON: So it sounds like he's not
21 done.
22 MR. KOLBE: No, no permits -- or no
23 inspections were done.
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: No inspections were done?
25 MR. KOLBE: On the plumbing.
10
1 MS. KAIGLER: Okay.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: Did they do the work?
3 MS. KAIGLER: Yes.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Then, obviously,
5 they have to call for the inspections.
6 MS. KAIGLER: Okay.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: All right. So, if, again,
8 there is -- there is a recommendation by the Department
9 that we postpone this until the November Board meeting,
10 do you think you could have all this done by then?
11 MS. KAIGLER: Yes. Yes, sir.
12 MR. COPE: Do you have a commitment from your
13 contractor of when he would be able to start the work?
14 MS. KAIGLER: I have to talk to him this
15 afternoon. I told him I was going to be in a meeting
16 and not to call me until after the meeting. But I
17 should be talking to him this evening or first thing in
18 the morning.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a motion --
20 MS. HOFMEISTER: I make --
21 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- stirring anywhere?
22 MS. HOFMEISTER: I make a motion that we
23 postpone 169 Dwight Avenue until the November 15th
24 meeting.
25 MR. COPE: Second.
11
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Is there any further
2 discussion?
3 All in favor, say "aye".
4 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: Motion passes. Thank you.
6 Next one is 179 Prospect Street.
7 MR. KOLBE: 179 Prospect is a single-family
8 residence. Inspection was on 8-2 of 2017. The
9 property is a noncompliant, dangerous, dilapidated
10 structure. Property Maintenance Inspection was
11 performed. A building permit had been pulled back last
12 year, March 18th of last year, as well as the
13 electrical permit was pulled in April of this year.
14 Plumbing and mechanical permits are still needed and
15 have not been applied for.
16 The residence is occupied. The crawl space
17 is open to trespass. Roof, siding, trim, porch and
18 garage are all dilapidated. Gutters are falling off,
19 it's overgrown, debris, unkempt, animals undermining,
20 and broken windows. Steps to the porch are crumbling.
21 The gas meter is gone and what's left is locked out.
22 And the electric meter is not there but it's illegally
23 jumped.
24 Our recommendation is to remain on the
25 demolition list.
12
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Your name, sir?
2 MR. REED: Hey.
3 THE CHAIRPERSON: Pardon?
4 MR. REED: I said hey.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: What's your name?
6 MR. REED: Juatamein Reed.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: All right. And you're the
8 owner?
9 MR. REED: Yes, I am.
10 THE CHAIRPERSON: Can you explain to us
11 what's going on with the property?
12 MR. REED: I bought the property about a year
13 ago. I pulled the building permit and the electrical
14 permit. I hired one guy that did the electrical permit
15 and he didn't finish up everything, so I had to hire
16 another electrical permit -- I mean electrical
17 contractor. He came out and finished everything. Then
18 I ended up losing my job so I wasn't able to do
19 anything else with the property.
20 I got back working and pulled the permits
21 again and further working on the house and getting
22 everything up to date. The porch he's talking about
23 has been replaced. The contractor came out and he ran
24 all new electrical. DTE came out, and that's how that
25 was hooked up. When they came out and did the
13
1 electrical inspection. Everything was done except for
2 the meter was turned upside-down.
3 When the first guy came out, he put the meter
4 on wrong. And he ran the wrong line. He put a 200-amp
5 box in and he ran 100 amp line. So I have to have a
6 contractor come back out and fix that but he's been
7 busy getting that together. The mechanicals and
8 plumbing, I have both guys coming in to do those at the
9 same time.
10 THE CHAIRPERSON: All right. Do --
11 MR. REED: The windows --
12 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- you --
13 MR. REED: -- are not broken. Like I say,
14 the porch has been fixed, the debris has been fixed.
15 THE CHAIRPERSON: That was two weeks ago
16 these photos were taken. Are you saying it was fixed
17 since these photos? These photos were taken on
18 August 2nd.
19 MR. REED: Say it again.
20 THE CHAIRPERSON: These photos that we are
21 looking at were taken on August 2nd that show the steps
22 going up to be in bad shape. Are you saying that was
23 corrected?
24 MR. REED: Yes, those were corrected. None
25 of the windows were broken. There was something in the
14
1 window. None of the windows were broken. The siding,
2 nothing was done with the siding. The gutters, the guy
3 up front told me, you know, "Get everything else done.
4 Don't worry about the outside right now. Just
5 basically get everything that need pulled, get all the
6 permits and everything completed."
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: Who told you that?
8 MR. REED: That gentlemen. I can't remember
9 his name. I think it's Dave. He's the one that
10 originally did the inspection on the property.
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. I see the crawl
12 space is open here, too.
13 MR. REED: Crawl space. Underneath the
14 porch?
15 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yes.
16 MR. REED: Actually, that's been pulled out.
17 Because there is plenty -- that should go into a
18 bathroom downstairs. There is a bathroom downstairs
19 and there is a bathroom upstairs. The panel was pulled
20 off; that way we could get access to get to underneath
21 the porch to get to the bathroom down there, to do the
22 plumbing for that.
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: So your permits expired
24 four months ago.
25 MR. REED: At that time, I wasn't working so
15
1 I wasn't even pulling anything. I was just paying the
2 taxes on the property.
3 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is it your intention to
4 live in this house?
5 Are you occupying this house?
6 MR. REED: No.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is your intention to live
8 in this house?
9 MR. REED: You said is it my intention to
10 live in it?
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: To live in it.
12 MR. REED: Yes, absolutely. Since I
13 purchased the house, I done spent time and effort
14 trying to get this house -- I done spent a total of
15 $10,000 trying to get this house together.
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is this a -- it looks like
17 a garage hidden in the forest here.
18 MR. REED: In the back of the house, yes.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: When's that going to come
20 down and be removed?
21 MR. REED: Actually, I want to finish up
22 everything and get that tore down and get another
23 garage, actually, built. Because, the way they --
24 that -- whoever had it first tried to build an
25 attachment onto it and it's like they built it, like,
16
1 weird. So I actually want to get all that tore down
2 and actually get another garage put up. But that's
3 going to be a project that's not going to happen until
4 next year.
5 MR. COPE: Do you have the means to complete
6 all the --
7 MR. REED: Yes.
8 MR. COPE: -- work --
9 MR. REED: Absolutely.
10 MR. COPE: -- that needs to be done here?
11 MR. REED: I'm determined to get this house
12 done.
13 MR. COPE: When do you feel you could get it
14 done by; how long will it take you?
15 MR. REED: Well, actually, like I said, the
16 plumbing and the mechanicals are getting pulled at the
17 same time. And there's two gentlemen that's coming to
18 do it. I'm hoping they'd be at the house to do it by
19 September; that's -- their goal is to get to the house.
20 They have so many jobs that they're doing right now.
21 So I'm basically on the waiting list. And I actually
22 told them, you know, "Whenever you have an opening,
23 please let me know so I can get it done."
24 MR. COPE: Is there any reason that you can't
25 close up the areas that are open?
17
1 MR. REED: What, the crawl space?
2 MR. COPE: Yeah.
3 MR. REED: Yeah, I can actually close that
4 up. I'll just put another piece of the board there
5 and, actually, close that up. I could leave here and
6 go do that now.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: That would be good. And
8 did you say the meter is now fixed? I'm worried
9 about --
10 MR. REED: No. Actually, the contractor has
11 to come back out. When the first guy came in, when he
12 did all the new lines and everything when --
13 THE CHAIRPERSON: You mean --
14 MR. REED: -- he did --
15 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- when --
16 MR. REED: -- all that --
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- Detroit Edison --
18 MR. REED: -- work, he --
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- came --
20 MR. REED: -- put it --
21 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- in?
22 MR. REED: -- on upside-down. He actually
23 put the meter on upside-down. So, when he came in and
24 did the inspection for it, they was like, "The meter
25 box is upside-down." And, like I said, we have a
18
1 200-amp box in the house but he ran 100 amp line.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: Doesn't Edison -- no, no,
3 the contractor installs the box but Edison puts in the
4 meter.
5 MR. COPE: Right.
6 THE CHAIRPERSON: So how did it get
7 upside-down if the contractor installed the box?
8 MR. REED: Yeah, the contractor -- I have no
9 clue what this man was doing. He didn't know what he
10 was doing. Like I say, he came out and did the work.
11 When she came out, she was like, "The box is
12 upside-down." And then the second contractor that came
13 out was like, "Yeah, the box is upside-down."
14 MR. KOLBE: Well, who jumped the meter?
15 MR. REED: The second contractor that came
16 out, actually. I saw he --
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Not Edison?
18 MR. KOLBE: No, Edison wouldn't have done
19 that.
20 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
21 MR. REED: After all the lines were ran --
22 after all the lines were ran in the house, called DTE
23 to come out there so he can make sure everything was
24 hooked up right.
25 MR. COPE: Can you explain why the meter is
19
1 being jumped? Why is this --
2 MR. REED: Whatever he did, after I called
3 DTE to get the power and make sure everything was
4 running right to the box, I have no clue what they did
5 out there at all. I called DTE. And, like I said, my
6 contractor did it. I have no clue what was done out
7 there.
8 All I know is, after they came in and did the
9 contractor work, I called in for an inspector, and
10 that's what they told me. After that, I did nothing
11 else. Like I said, I wound up losing my job and did
12 nothing else to it until I found another job. And now
13 I'm back working on the property.
14 MR. MORAN: The last three times I've been
15 there, the meter has been jumped.
16 MR. REED: Say that again.
17 MR. MORAN: The last three times I've been
18 there, the meter has continually been jumped. We've
19 called DTE. I don't know what they'd done to unhook
20 the meter. But, you know, the other concern I have is
21 that house is being occupied. And it's been occupied.
22 Every time I go by there, there's a car in there --
23 MR. REED: Yeah, I have --
24 MR. MORAN: -- there's people living there.
25 MR. REED: I have a white truck. I have a --
20
1 MR. MORAN: There's --
2 MR. REED: -- white --
3 MR. MORAN: -- fans --
4 MR. REED: -- truck.
5 MR. MORAN: -- blowing in the window.
6 There's people that we could hear inside the house.
7 Your girlfriend was there the last time we posted it
8 with a Cease and Desist.
9 MR. REED: She actually came to the house
10 because we, actually, had a problem in the back of the
11 garage. Someone was dumping trash. So her and her
12 daughter came there to pull the trash out, to actually
13 take it to a dump site. And that's when they ran into
14 you about what was going on. They didn't even know
15 what was going on. I actually called from work and I
16 left from work and came down here and spoke to Jeff
17 about it.
18 MR. MORAN: Again, every time I go by there,
19 there seems to be activity in the house, around the
20 house. And it's not legal to occupy a house that has
21 not been approved for occupancy.
22 MR. REED: The house is not occupied.
23 They're working on the house.
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: Without the permits?
25 MR. REED: No, I have the permits.
21
1 MR. KOLBE: No.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: No, you don't.
3 MR. REED: I have the building permit and the
4 electrical permit.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: They're expired.
6 MR. REED: I have them both here now.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: I understand that but
8 they're expired, therefore they're not valid.
9 MR. REED: How did they expire when I just
10 pulled them? I literally just pulled them both.
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: When did you pull it?
12 MR. REED: I pulled the building permit about
13 a few -- like a week or two ago. And then, two weeks
14 prior to that, I pulled the --
15 THE CHAIRPERSON: You say --
16 MR. REED: -- electrical --
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- you have --
18 MR. REED: -- permit.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- you have copies of it?
20 MR. REED: Yes, I have them both here.
21 THE CHAIRPERSON: Well, bring it to the staff
22 here.
23 MR. MORAN: I've got the last building permit
24 that's listed here was pulled on 3-18 of 2016.
25 THE CHAIRPERSON: And I have it expired here
22
1 on the sheet that's 4-20-17.
2 MR. KOLBE: Did someone change the date and
3 not say anything?
4 MR. MORAN: They put an extension on here,
5 per Jeff.
6 MR. KOLBE: Until when?
7 MR. MORAN: On the electrical, on 8-2.
8 MR. KOLBE: On 8-2 until when was it
9 expiring?
10 MR. MORAN: Oh, that's what they're both
11 PB160155 and 160148.
12 MR. KOLBE: What's his new expiration date?
13 MR. MORAN: Well, if he approved it on 8-2,
14 he would get until 11-2.
15 THE CHAIRPERSON: So there was --
16 MR. MORAN: It does appear that Jeff Bowdell
17 approved a handwritten document that's not in under the
18 permits --
19 MR. KOLBE: It was --
20 MR. MORAN: -- as --
21 MR. KOLBE: -- never --
22 MR. MORAN: -- an --
23 MR. KOLBE: -- recorded.
24 MR. MORAN: -- extension. It's not recorded
25 but it's just a handwritten document that Jeff signed.
23
1 MR. KOLBE: A request. Was it paid for?
2 MR. MORAN: Was it paid; does it say "paid"?
3 MR. KOLBE: Go back to the invoice.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: That was on 8-2, you said?
5 MR. MORAN: On 8-2.
6 MR. REED: Do you want me to bring this
7 permit, too?
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Do you have it?
9 MR. REED: This is one of them. The building
10 permit is actually on the outside of the house. I
11 actually have a picture of it on my phone.
12 THE CHAIRPERSON: Do you have that? Could
13 you show it to these gentlemen and let them verify it.
14 MR. KOLBE: Expires today.
15 MR. MORAN: The date expires 8-16-2017.
16 MR. REED: This is the building permit that's
17 on the door now.
18 MR. KOLBE: I'm not going to be able to read
19 that.
20 MR. REED: And this is --
21 MR. KOLBE: Okay. That was the invoice.
22 Yeah, we're seeing that now they just didn't bother to
23 tell us that it was taken care of.
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: It appears --
25 MR. KOLBE: It shows that it's -- he has a
24
1 permit that expires today.
2 MR. REED: The building expires today
3 because, like they say, when I meet up with you guys,
4 because they didn't want to extend it.
5 MR. KOLBE: Right.
6 MR. REED: They wanted to make sure --
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: Well, what was extended,
8 then?
9 MR. MORAN: Both the building and electrical.
10 MR. REED: So this is the electrical and the
11 building.
12 MR. MORAN: But just until today.
13 MR. KOLBE: Until today.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
15 MR. KOLBE: So who pulled the building -- or
16 the electrical?
17 MR. MORAN: It doesn't show the contractor.
18 MR. REED: Like you said, you wanted me to
19 come up here and see what was going on. There was no
20 reason for them to make it longer, depending on what
21 was going to go on. So here's the electrical --
22 MR. MORAN: Well, he's going to live there so
23 he doesn't --
24 MR. REED: Like he said, until I figure out
25 what was going on. So here's the electrical.
25
1 (Off the record discussion.)
2 MR. MORAN: So both of your permits are
3 expired today.
4 MR. REED: Right. Like I said, until I
5 figure out what's going on, if I'm getting okayed to
6 finish the house or not. So they gave me until today
7 to figure out what's going on, if I could finish the
8 house.
9 MR. KOLBE: That's typical.
10 THE CHAIRPERSON: And could you say -- could
11 you go back to --
12 Thank you. You say you have the funds to
13 complete the house?
14 MR. REED: Yes, absolutely. I will have the
15 house done. Like I said, I'm determined to get this
16 house done.
17 MR. COPE: I'd like to make a motion that we
18 postpone this until the 11-15 meeting but I would like
19 to put a condition on it that there is nobody to occupy
20 the house until it has a valid Certificate of
21 Occupancy.
22 MR. REED: Say it again. I didn't hear you.
23 MR. COPE: Until it has a valid Certificate
24 of Occupancy, no one is to -- allowed in the --
25 MR. REED: Okay.
26
1 MR. COPE: -- the house, living in the house.
2 MR. REED: Okay.
3 MS. HOFMEISTER: I'll second.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: All right.
5 Kevin, since you weren't here for the full
6 dialogue, I'll ask that you not vote.
7 MR. STEWART: Understood.
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. All in favor of the
9 motion to postpone until the November meeting, on the
10 condition that the permit's going to be extended and
11 nobody occupies the house -- is there any further
12 dialogue?
13 MS. HOFMEISTER: No.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: All in favor, say "aye".
15 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
17 None.
18 MR. STEWART: I'll abstain.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Motion passes.
20 MR. STEWART: Thank you.
21 THE CHAIRPERSON: Please let the record show
22 that Kevin Stewart just arrived, the fourth member of
23 the committee. Thank you.
24 MR. STEWART: And I'm abstaining from
25 179 Prospect Street.
27
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yeah.
2 Next is 359 Prospect Street.
3 MR. KOLBE: 359 Prospect, a single-family
4 home was inspected on 8-2 of 2017, was supposed to be
5 vacant but we're finding it's not. A dilapidated and
6 dangerous structure. It's missing siding, upper gable
7 vent, window and trim, broken and boarded windows. The
8 siding, trim, windows, doors, roof, porch step and
9 front entry and foundation on blocks are loose. It's
10 overgrown, debris, unkempt. Again, broken windows.
11 The gas meter's on, the electric meter is on.
12 A building permit was pulled on October 11th
13 of 2016, mechanical on January 1st of -- or
14 January 12th of 2017 and electrical on November 30th of
15 2016. All the permits have expired and only a rough
16 plumbing inspection has passed.
17 Our recommendation is to remain on the
18 demolition list.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Your name, please.
20 MR. MAGILL: Charles Magill.
21 THE CHAIRPERSON: And your relationship to
22 the property?
23 MR. MAGILL: Owner.
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. Can you explain
25 to us why there hasn't been work being done on the
28
1 house?
2 MR. MAGILL: Why there what?
3 THE CHAIRPERSON: Why the work has not been
4 done on the house.
5 MR. MAGILL: I have been working on it. I
6 repaired the back porch, roof. The front stairs have
7 been replaced. It's got a furnace. I had a gas
8 inspection, gas test inspection yesterday and passed.
9 Electrical rough inspection has passed, I believe.
10 If we go inside, the house is rewired and new
11 furnace, new water heater. On the outside, the front
12 porch has been addressed. The roof for the front porch
13 is not addressed for the dip in it. I'm getting that
14 repaired, probably, by the end of the week.
15 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is your intention to live
16 in the house or rent it?
17 MR. MAGILL: Live in it.
18 MR. KOLBE: Why do you have renters in it
19 now?
20 MR. MAGILL: I don't. Squatters.
21 MR. KOLBE: They're saying they're paying you
22 rent.
23 MR. MAGILL: They aren't paying me rent.
24 MR. MORAN: They've been there since
25 December.
29
1 MR. MAGILL: Yeah, squatters.
2 MR. KOLBE: And you haven't been able to get
3 rid of them?
4 MR. MAGILL: I took the law you guys gave me
5 about squatters and I took it to the police. They
6 didn't do anything. I filled out the initial eviction
7 papers and they didn't move.
8 You guys, I think, posted the house and said
9 some -- some information I got was that someone could
10 take their kids if they stayed there. They still
11 didn't move.
12 The inspector that was there yesterday said
13 that he'd see what he could do, so no. If they're
14 gone, it's fine. They don't hurt me. So I'm not -- I
15 mean, they don't belong there; I agree with you. But
16 I've had squatters in seven houses in Pontiac -- or
17 seven times over the last eight years. They're hard to
18 get rid of.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: The permit's been expired
20 since when?
21 MR. MAGILL: On the house, I believe the
22 permit was good -- the permits were good until today.
23 MR. MORAN: He filled out an extension on all
24 permits until today. And that was approved by
25 Mike Wilson, the building official. So they're now
30
1 expired.
2 MR. KOLBE: As of a certain date, when all my
3 data has been taken care of, they're supposed to be
4 notifying me of this. And, obviously, we've got some
5 glitches down there, that they're not notifying me that
6 people are coming in to renew things.
7 MR. MAGILL: So --
8 MR. COPE: Mr. Magill.
9 MR. MAGILL: -- the house is looking a lot
10 better. The -- there's still some work to do on the
11 outside the house but I'm pretty good there. I
12 replaced -- at the last meeting, we talked about broken
13 glass. There was a broken window and I took that and
14 got it repaired. And I presently don't think I have
15 any broken windows. I have storm windows where some of
16 the storms are missing.
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yeah --
18 MR. MAGILL: But --
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- I noticed the porch is
20 boarded up. What is that on the porch; is that some
21 kind of -- it doesn't look like it's plywood. Is that,
22 like, a -- dense glass or something on the front porch?
23 MR. MORAN: I think foam, I think it was.
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: Foam?
25 MR. MORAN: If I recall --
31
1 MR. MAGILL: There shouldn't be foam.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: I see a lot of debris
3 around the back of the house, too.
4 MR. MORAN: Oh, on the front, yeah, that was
5 boarded. That's all boarded.
6 MR. MAGILL: Can I show you a picture of the
7 front of the house?
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Do you have something
9 that's recent?
10 MR. MAGILL: Yeah.
11 MR. MORAN: The back entry door was nailed
12 and screwed shut.
13 MR. MAGILL: Correct.
14 MR. COPE: You can just hand it to him.
15 MR. STEWART: How long have you owned this
16 house, sir?
17 MR. MAGILL: A year and a half, I think.
18 MR. STEWART: Bought it at the County?
19 MR. MAGILL: Hmm? No.
20 MR. STEWART: Did you buy it at the County?
21 MR. MAGILL: No.
22 MR. STEWART: Private seller?
23 MR. MAGILL: Yeah.
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: How -- how do you work on
25 the house where there's squatters inside?
32
1 MR. MAGILL: Say what?
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: How do you work on the
3 house if there's squatters inside?
4 MR. MAGILL: Inside and out.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: Pardon?
6 MR. MAGILL: Inside and out. I work inside
7 and out. I have free access to my house.
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: I understand that. But how
9 do you work with them if they occupy the house?
10 MR. MAGILL: How do I work on the house if
11 they're in it?
12 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yes.
13 MR. MAGILL: I just do my work.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: And they stay there?
15 MR. MAGILL: Well, they don't leave when --
16 yeah, they're squatters. They don't care about me.
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: I understand that. But
18 then I don't understand why they can't get them out. I
19 understand what you're saying but this is ridiculous.
20 So he's going to finish this house.
21 MR. KOLBE: In court --
22 THE CHAIRPERSON: And then how do you get
23 your house back?
24 MR. MAGILL: I'll move in.
25 THE CHAIRPERSON: With those people in the
33
1 house?
2 MR. MAGILL: They'll probably move out if I
3 move in. When they leave, I'll throw them out. I
4 don't know. I haven't been there yet. This stuff is
5 weird to me because I -- I went to the police and told
6 them there were people trespassing in my house, could
7 they have them leave.
8 MR. COPE: You just mentioned to us that you
9 have had this happen seven other times.
10 MR. MAGILL: Yeah.
11 MR. COPE: Now, obviously, you're experienced
12 at this.
13 MR. MAGILL: Yes, I'm familiar with it. Not
14 me moving in but I'm familiar with having squatters,
15 yes.
16 MS. HOFMEISTER: Can you catch them gone and
17 change the locks?
18 MR. MAGILL: What's that?
19 MS. HOFMEISTER: Can you catch them gone and
20 change the locks?
21 MR. MAGILL: Yes, I could.
22 MS. HOFMEISTER: Who pays the electric bill?
23 MR. MAGILL: I think it's in their name.
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: How could it be squatters,
25 if it's in their name?
34
1 MR. MAGILL: They're still squatters.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: But, in order to get a
3 utility bill in your name --
4 MR. MAGILL: You --
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- you --
6 MR. MAGILL: -- have to --
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- have to --
8 MR. MAGILL: -- have a lease.
9 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- prove ownership.
10 MR. MAGILL: No, you have to have -- you have
11 to have a lease.
12 THE CHAIRPERSON: Oh. So they have a lease?
13 MR. MAGILL: No, they don't have a lease.
14 They have a copy of my lease. Anyway, they --
15 they're -- they don't have a lease.
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: But they do have a copy of
17 a lease, it's just not signed?
18 MR. MAGILL: No, it was -- it was signed for
19 them to try and get some -- they were going to stay
20 there for a short while they were cleaning the house,
21 trashing out the house, and they needed electric. And
22 so I gave them a lease so they could get electric and
23 they didn't pay me any money and they moved in.
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. So they --
25 MR. MAGILL: They didn't complete the
35
1 contract.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: But they have a signed
3 agreement -- signed lease?
4 MR. MAGILL: They have a signed lease but not
5 a complete contract. A complete contract has to have
6 earnest money.
7 MR. MORAN: Do you have legal paperwork, as
8 far as eviction notices and written letters to them --
9 MR. MAGILL: Uh-huh.
10 MR. MORAN: -- certified mail --
11 MR. MAGILL: Not --
12 MR. MORAN: -- documenting --
13 MR. MAGILL: -- certified --
14 MR. MORAN: -- your --
15 MR. MAGILL: -- mail.
16 MR. MORAN: -- eviction?
17 Do you have documentation of your request for
18 eviction?
19 MR. MAGILL: Yes.
20 THE CHAIRPERSON: I'm just reluctant to keep
21 going with this unless we have some resolution about
22 these squatters.
23 MR. STEWART: I have a question when we get a
24 moment.
25 Dave, where --
36
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Could you go back to the
2 microphone, please?
3 MR. MAGILL: Can I get my phone?
4 MR. STEWART: Do you want to give him his
5 phone?
6 THE CHAIRPERSON: I'm sorry.
7 MR. STEWART: Where are you sending his
8 notices to?
9 MR. MORAN: Just one moment.
10 310 Leota Boulevard, Waterford, Michigan
11 48327.
12 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is that your residence?
13 MR. MAGILL: That's -- yeah, that's a house I
14 have, correct.
15 MR. STEWART: Now, he said, "Is that your
16 residence", not --
17 MR. MAGILL: Yeah, that's my residence now,
18 correct. This house that I'm finishing will be my
19 residence when I'm done. The one on Leota is for sale.
20 MR. STEWART: This is 359 Auburn -- I mean
21 359 Prospect?
22 MR. MORAN: Correct.
23 MR. STEWART: And you bought this from the
24 owner?
25 MR. MAGILL: Yes. They've since died.
37
1 MR. STEWART: Hmm?
2 MR. MAGILL: The owner has since died, the
3 previous owner, the person I bought from.
4 MR. STEWART: 359, hmm. This is next door to
5 the church, right?
6 MR. KOLBE: Yes.
7 MR. MAGILL: What's that?
8 MR. STEWART: This is next door to the
9 church, right?
10 MR. MAGILL: Yes, yes.
11 MR. STEWART: And you say the owner is
12 deceased?
13 MR. MAGILL: The previous owner is deceased.
14 MR. STEWART: You --
15 MR. MAGILL: Not the guy that was in the
16 house years ago.
17 MR. STEWART: Who was the guy in the house
18 years ago?
19 MR. MAGILL: I've met him. I don't know his
20 name. I believe he was there a long time. I believe
21 his father owned the house in the '70s; that's what he
22 told me when I met him.
23 MR. COPE: Mr. Kolbe and Mr. Moran, are there
24 unsafe conditions in this house, that you're aware of?
25 MR. MORAN: It was not an occupiable
38
1 structure at the time of my Property Maintenance
2 Inspection, which was done on 8-23 of 2016.
3 THE CHAIRPERSON: But I notice, on the sheet
4 here, it says only rough plumbing passed. So, if that
5 means rough plumbing passed, it means you don't have
6 water functioning in the house, it means you can't
7 occupy.
8 MR. MORAN: They don't have a final
9 mechanical or electrical or building. We don't --
10 MR. STEWART: Dave, can I ask a really quick
11 question?
12 MR. MORAN: Yeah.
13 MR. STEWART: Does this house have a Michigan
14 basement?
15 MR. MAGILL: Almost.
16 MR. MORAN: Part of it.
17 MR. MAGILL: It's, like, six feet.
18 MR. STEWART: So that would tell you that
19 I've been in this house, wouldn't it? Because there's
20 no pictures of the basement here. Wouldn't that tell
21 you I've been inside this house before?
22 MR. MAGILL: I -- I believe so, sure.
23 MR. STEWART: Yeah, yeah.
24 MR. MAGILL: What are you saying?
25 MR. MORAN: The one thing I do remember --
39
1 MR. STEWART: You don't want to know. You
2 don't want to know what I know.
3 MR. MORAN: There's multi-stations --
4 MR. MAGILL: About the house?
5 MR. STEWART: (Nods head.)
6 MR. MORAN: -- required roofing in certain
7 sections, windows, siding. There was a whole litany of
8 things in this letter, the Property Maintenance
9 Inspection letter that was sent. And, I mean, even
10 simple graspable handrails at the front entry, I mean,
11 those are requirements under code.
12 MR. MAGILL: That's my recollection of it.
13 MR. MORAN: That Property Maintenance also
14 was significant in the sense of the water intrusion in
15 that structure and the mold conditions that were there
16 and present, and that some remediation was going to be
17 required. But, not being in there subsequent of that
18 initial inspection, I'm not sure what kind of safe
19 habitable air quality issues are at hand.
20 MR. MAGILL: Okay.
21 MR. MORAN: And you've got people occupying
22 that structure.
23 MR. MAGILL: I don't have people occupying
24 it. People --
25 THE CHAIRPERSON: People --
40
1 MR. MAGILL: -- are occupying --
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- are in it --
3 MR. MAGILL: -- the structure.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- illegally. I just don't
5 understand why the police aren't doing anything.
6 MR. MORAN: I don't either. I mean, we see
7 people getting evicted.
8 MR. KOLBE: What date did you go to court to
9 file your eviction papers there?
10 MR. MAGILL: What day did I give them the
11 eviction papers?
12 MR. KOLBE: No. When you went to the court
13 to file your eviction papers.
14 MR. MAGILL: No. I told you, I didn't do
15 that. I gave the tenants the eviction papers. I asked
16 the police to remove the people. You guys gave me a
17 copy of a newer law.
18 MR. KOLBE: If you want to get rid of a
19 renter, you go to court, if nobody else is doing
20 anything. Maybe not, I don't know.
21 MR. MORAN: That's what I'm saying. That's
22 why I asked --
23 MR. MAGILL: Oh. You're asking why I didn't
24 go to court?
25 MR. MORAN: -- if you have legal documents
41
1 for your eviction notice.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: The Court would issue an
3 order to evict the people.
4 MR. MAGILL: I could evict them with a deputy
5 there, I believe.
6 THE CHAIRPERSON: But that hasn't happened?
7 MR. MAGILL: No, I haven't done -- no, I
8 haven't done that.
9 MR. COPE: Why not?
10 MR. MAGILL: Because, when there weren't
11 people there, the house kept being broken into and my
12 lawnmower and things were stolen and so --
13 MR. COPE: So you would prefer to have
14 somebody in a house that is unsafe --
15 MR. MAGILL: Well --
16 MR. COPE: -- so that you can maintain your
17 property, to prevent it from being damaged; that's what
18 you're telling us?
19 MR. MAGILL: Well, I haven't said anything
20 about the unsafe aspect of the house. I'm not familiar
21 with the house being unsafe. And I work in the house
22 frequently and --
23 MR. STEWART: With the squatters.
24 MR. MAGILL: Pardon me?
25 MR. STEWART: With the squatters inside, you
42
1 work frequently. I have another quick question and
2 you're not obligated to answer this. Who did you buy
3 this house from?
4 MR. MAGILL: Tabitha Bennett.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: I -- I'm still trying to
6 figure out why it's taken so long.
7 MR. MAGILL: I was approached after I bought
8 the house by -- by a guy that bought another house from
9 me and he was trying to establish a church ministry.
10 He was working as an engineer. He was working as an
11 engineer and, I guess, his work went south. He had to
12 go to Maryland to work. His ministry started to fall
13 apart and he asked me to take the house back.
14 MR. STEWART: The owner --
15 MR. MAGILL: He had it for about a year.
16 MR. STEWART: The owner that I know that
17 owned this house is not deceased. Okay? So I'm
18 just --
19 MR. MAGILL: The owners that you know that
20 owned the house?
21 MR. STEWART: Listen, sir. The owner to this
22 house --
23 MR. MAGILL: Yes.
24 MR. STEWART: -- and you said the person is
25 deceased who you bought this house from -- is not
43
1 deceased. Okay. So let's just -- let's just leave
2 that alone.
3 MR. MAGILL: Okay.
4 MR. STEWART: Okay. Let's leave that alone.
5 And my -- my question is, to you, what are your
6 intentions? That's all my questions are to you.
7 MR. MAGILL: Finish the house, move in. I'll
8 probably have to remove the squatters myself but I'd
9 still like to see the law work --
10 MR. STEWART: And --
11 MR. MAGILL: -- to remove --
12 MR. STEWART: -- you've had this --
13 MR. MAGILL: -- these squatters.
14 MR. STEWART: -- since December.
15 You've had it since December. To get rid of
16 squatters -- you're putting money into a home where
17 there's squatters?
18 That's hard for me to believe -- for me to
19 believe. And, furthermore, I know that it's an
20 untruth. Because the person that owned this house is
21 not deceased. I personally know the individual that
22 owned this house for the last 20 years.
23 MR. MAGILL: The one that I bought it from?
24 Anyway --
25 MR. STEWART: Yeah, let's do it anyway.
44
1 MR. COPE: I'd like to make a motion that
2 this house at 39 --
3 MR. STEWART: 35 --
4 MR. COPE: 359 Prospect remain on the
5 demolition list.
6 MR. MAGILL: Can I -- can I request --
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: There's a motion on the
8 floor, please.
9 Is there a second?
10 MS. HOFMEISTER: I'll second.
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
12 Go ahead, sir.
13 MR. MAGILL: I just passed an inspection
14 yesterday. I'm putting money into the house. I showed
15 you pictures of the progress. The idea that the house
16 is dilapidated isn't true anymore, to my way of
17 thinking. It's coming along. It's a nice house.
18 Inside, it's a nice house. It's not cosmetically nice
19 inside. In other words, it's not decorated but paint,
20 painting the inside of a house, is a last concern.
21 THE CHAIRPERSON: Sounds like it's --
22 MR. MAGILL: But I have --
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- a lot more than that.
24 The plumbing hasn't passed.
25 MR. MAGILL: The -- the plumbing was all
45
1 newer when I got the house. It's all PEX piping. I'm
2 sure it was approved sometime in the past. I didn't
3 need to do a thing to the plumbing. The plumbing I
4 got -- the plumbing permit for the piping that I got,
5 the inspection was for gas line, which was piping,
6 black pipe.
7 MR. MORAN: Gas pipe pressure test; that's
8 what was approved yesterday.
9 MR. MAGILL: 40 feet of --
10 MR. MORAN: But there's no --
11 MR. MAGILL: What?
12 MR. MORAN: There's no record of any kind of
13 permit for whatever PEX piping was done. So that
14 would -- when you bought the house, you bought that
15 issue of having that inspected and approved under a
16 permit. So that still needs to be done because it
17 doesn't mean it's done right.
18 MR. MAGILL: Okay. I didn't know that. I
19 saw the PEX piping and I thought it was fine. I --
20 I'll have to -- I -- I can look into that. But the --
21 I did the gas piping, put in a new furnace, new water
22 heater, repaired the front porch, new steps, new
23 railing, roofing in the back of the house, trim on the
24 house, scraping the paint. I mean, I'm making lots of
25 progress with this house. It's occupiable soon.
46
1 MS. HOFMEISTER: Sounds like it's already
2 occupied.
3 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yeah.
4 MR. MAGILL: No, I mean the regular
5 occupiable.
6 THE CHAIRPERSON: Well --
7 MR. MAGILL: I don't install --
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there --
9 MR. MAGILL: I don't install squatters. I
10 have a hard time taking --
11 MR. STEWART: This is --
12 MR. MAGILL: -- flak for --
13 MR. STEWART: -- what makes --
14 MR. MAGILL: -- squatters.
15 MR. STEWART: -- it difficult for me to sit
16 here when you just can't come or go to the mic or go to
17 the City and just come clean and say, "This is what's
18 happening and this is what I'm willing to do." I mean,
19 instead of going all the way around in circles and say,
20 "Listen, I got people living there. I haven't been
21 playing by the rules. I've been putting my money into
22 this property and I need to fly right and play by the
23 rules." That's all this comes down to.
24 Because you know what? This is all this
25 comes down to: "I have people living in there because
47
1 I don't want my -- my furnace stolen, I don't want my
2 hot water heater gone and I have somebody in there
3 occupying it" instead of coming to this meeting, saying
4 they're squatters.
5 Because squatters will steal your furnace and
6 will sell it, okay? They're -- or my air conditioner.
7 Instead of just being up front and saying, "This is
8 what's going on. Can you give me an opportunity to
9 right a wrong?" That's all you got to say.
10 MR. MAGILL: Which wrong would I be righting?
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: All right.
12 MR. MAGILL: I'm not trying to argue.
13 MR. STEWART: No back and forth, sir. It's
14 already a motion on the floor for your home to be
15 demolished.
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there any more
17 discussion from the Board?
18 Okay. All in favor of the motion for
19 demolition, say "aye".
20 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
21 Any opposed?
22 Hearing none, that's the resolution, sir.
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: 61 North Ardmore Street.
24 MR. KOLBE: 61 North Ardmore, a single-family
25 residence, inspected on 8-2 of 2017. It's a vacant,
48
1 dilapidated and fire-damaged structure. Fire occurred
2 July of 2016. House is boarded from fire damage. The
3 siding and -- some of the siding is missing. Second
4 floor window is open, a fire-damaged structure,
5 basement door and windows are boarded, overgrown,
6 debris, unkempt, much debris outside in the yard,
7 working beyond the scope of his permit. Windows, trim,
8 roofing and electrical are all dilapidated. The porch
9 is undermined. The gas meter is gone and electric
10 meter is off.
11 Our recommendation is to remain on the
12 demolition list because of lack of activity, with the
13 note that the gentleman just came in today to try to
14 pull his electrical and the plumbing permit. Why he
15 wasn't in here the last --
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: A week ago?
17 MR. KOLBE: -- month, I don't know. But he
18 just came in to try to pull them today.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Your name, sir?
20 MR. NIEVES: Joseph Nieves. And I'm the
21 owner.
22 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Can you explain to
23 us what's going on with the house.
24 MR. NIEVES: Well, as you heard, it was in a
25 fire in 2016. It was put -- actually, I'm kind of new
49
1 to the whole -- this whole process. And then the -- it
2 was deemed an unsafe structure. So that was -- that's
3 my understanding of why I'm here, because it was deemed
4 unsafe.
5 So I've done everything to make it safe.
6 It's 100 percent not livable. I mean, we spent most of
7 the first six months, just the damage that this fire
8 did, that -- tons of debris, you know, numerous
9 dumpster trucks to get all the stuff out. But the
10 siding has all been --
11 The first thing I did is get a contractor to
12 come out and -- obviously, I'm not qualified to know
13 what is safe and unsafe, as far as, like, the wood and
14 the structure. And everything that was deemed unsafe,
15 he removed it and replaced it with new wood. So he
16 assured me it was structurally sound before I went in
17 there and started to do the stuff that I know I can do.
18 So the siding's done. I think, like, I may
19 need one or two windows left. You know, as far as the
20 trash on the outside of the house, I want to say it's
21 all gone. I went there, took pictures today, just, you
22 know, in case you guys wanted to see them. So, as far
23 as, like, from the last meeting until today, I think
24 we've made significant progress.
25 I went there today, like you said, the very
50
1 last minute. The only reason the plumbing and the
2 electrical haven't been pulled previously is because I
3 don't -- we haven't even started. Like, there's still
4 stuff on the outside we have to do. We have to do a
5 little more on the roof, you know, painting, you know,
6 trimming. So there's the only reason. I was like,
7 "Why am I going to pull the permit if I'm not even
8 going to touch the electrical or the plumbing for at
9 least another month?"
10 But, since the meeting was today, I said,
11 "Let me show them I'm being proactive about it. I'll
12 pull it, even though it's very likely we won't touch
13 the rest of our plumbing for at least another month."
14 But the house is coming along. If you
15 compare the pictures from three months ago, I think
16 it's clear as day. It's really just a matter of how
17 fast I can save money to keep dumping much into the
18 house.
19 Initially, when it caught on fire, everyone
20 thought I was crazy for trying to rehab it. But, you
21 know, maybe naive. I thought, you know, it was a
22 worthy investment. And, by now, I'm way too deep in to
23 turn around now. I've invested thousands.
24 So, even if I wanted to undo, you know, and,
25 say, just call it a loss and give it to someone for
51
1 free and let them deal with the headache, it's too
2 late. But I put significant money and time, from my
3 own time, my family's time and my friend's time. It's
4 come a long way in three months. And I hope, in
5 another three months, it will, you know, be even
6 further.
7 But really, as far as it deemed unsafe, I
8 don't think it is unsafe anymore. It's definitely not
9 livable because, like I said, it was on fire. So the
10 entire inside has to be done, from drywall, plumbing,
11 electrical, appliances, everything. So it's just a
12 matter of how fast I can save the money to get
13 everything done.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: Did you own the house when
15 the fire started?
16 MR. NIEVES: Yes, I did.
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: So you were living in the
18 house at the time?
19 MR. NIEVES: No. It was a rental property.
20 THE CHAIRPERSON: It was a rental?
21 MR. NIEVES: It was a tenant that did it.
22 MR. STEWART: Did you have fire insurance?
23 MR. NIEVES: I have a partner who was kind of
24 in charge of all that. No, so we have parted ways over
25 this and it's -- it's just me now and I -- I'm stuck
52
1 with dealing with it since he didn't do due diligence
2 in making sure the insurance was paid up. So that's
3 unfortunate.
4 MR. STEWART: Any notes on that?
5 MR. MORAN: Yeah. One of the concerns --
6 MR. STEWART: Of the prior report?
7 MR. MORAN: I haven't looked at the report
8 here recently.
9 But the concern we have, from the Building
10 Department, is your application for a permit is not
11 inclusive of everything you're doing out there. With
12 all the damage to the structure, including the roof
13 rafters, trusses, whatever was there, we had nothing
14 submitted by a design professional as to how to reframe
15 the roof, reframe the walls, anything that was
16 structurally impacted from the fire. There's nothing
17 on here for a new roof.
18 There was no open roof inspection, no final
19 roof inspection. I mean, there's a whole litany of
20 inspections that were required and, again, your permit
21 is devoid of some of the requirements of reconstructing
22 this house.
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: And I see new windows.
24 MR. MORAN: I mean, here's what we got on
25 there: Siding, plumbing, sheet rock for kitchen, stove
53
1 and refrigerator; that's it for this entire damaged
2 structure. So, I mean, you -- somebody came in and
3 applied for it, maybe told the staff up front, "We're
4 going to add to it as we go", whatever, I'm not sure.
5 But everything that's done out there has not
6 been inspected and/or approved and we don't have any
7 kind of documents from a design professional that says
8 this is how you've got to safely rebuild this
9 structure.
10 MR. NIEVES: Someone came out from the City
11 to inspect and they went inside.
12 MR. MORAN: I did a Property Maintenance
13 Inspection back on 10-4 of 2016, identified all the
14 damage and took pictures accordingly. But --
15 MR. NIEVES: Okay.
16 MR. MORAN: -- that was the start of the
17 process.
18 MR. NIEVES: Yeah. I mean, as far as what we
19 had to jot down on the permit, I mean, I'm a novice.
20 So I'm not going to lie to you, I mean. But, as far
21 as, like, the roof, the roof, the way you see it today
22 is pretty much the way -- other than like a few pieces
23 of charred wood, it's pretty much the same as it was
24 before the fire. The roof wasn't damaged, even the
25 whole second floor.
54
1 MR. MORAN: I don't know that. That's what
2 I'm --
3 THE CHAIRPERSON: They don't know --
4 MR. MORAN: -- saying.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- that. If you have a
6 fire in the house, it could do some serious damage to,
7 say, the roof rafters or roof trusses. So somebody has
8 to inspect that, to make sure it's still safe before
9 you continue with the work. That's what the concern
10 is; that you're doing the work in an unsafe house. And
11 nobody knows whether or not the damage from the fire
12 damaged the integrity of the structure.
13 MR. NIEVES: Oh. I thought that's what the
14 Property Inspection was about, back whenever he said he
15 did it. So that's something else I have to schedule;
16 it's separate?
17 MR. MORAN: You have to -- you have to comply
18 with the requirements of the building permit. There's
19 a whole chronology of inspections that are required
20 when you're going through this level of reconstruction.
21 MR. NIEVES: Okay.
22 MR. MORAN: And none of that's been done.
23 The roof actually looks terrible. Dan and I posted
24 this house, we looked at that roof, brand new shingles,
25 it looked like a four-year-old did it. I mean, again,
55
1 that was the whole purpose. We have no intake air. We
2 don't have -- again, I can't verify ice and water
3 shield, proper flashing, drip edge, any of that.
4 So that's just the roof. But I'm more
5 concerned about the structure and the reframing that
6 occurred in there without any kind of building
7 inspection.
8 MR. NIEVES: Reframing?
9 MR. MORAN: Or any kind of information from a
10 design professional that says -- whether it's an
11 engineer, a structural engineer or a licensed
12 architect.
13 MR. NIEVES: When you say "reframing", I
14 mean --
15 THE CHAIRPERSON: There's framing on the
16 roof, probably two-by-sixes, two-by-eights. Some --
17 some design professional needs to verify that -- that
18 those are not damaged significantly from the fire. If
19 they are, they need to be replaced.
20 MR. NIEVES: When the fire first happened, I
21 had a guy come out, contractor who specializes in
22 rehabs, and he wanted to do the entire thing.
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: And --
24 MR. NIEVES: He gave me a quote and I said,
25 "Well, you know what? I can't afford what you're
56
1 asking. This is what I need from you: I need you to
2 inspect the house. You tell me, 'Hey this is unsafe,
3 this piece needs to go, this piece needs to go."
4 And he did all that work. I was like, "I
5 want to be able to go in there and know that this
6 roof's not going to fall on my head when I'm working in
7 there." So he did the initial, you know, as far as,
8 "This has got to go, this has got to go." And he did
9 all that.
10 THE CHAIRPERSON: Did he do a report?
11 MR. NIEVES: Did he do a report? No, not
12 like a written -- no, not on a report.
13 MR. STEWART: I have a question.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: Go ahead, Kevin.
15 MR. STEWART: I have two questions for you,
16 sir, and I have one for the City. My first question
17 is, did you fly here from Florida for this meeting?
18 MR. NIEVES: What? Yes.
19 MR. STEWART: Okay. You flew here from
20 Florida for this meeting. My next question is this
21 NIEVES HOMES, LLC, how many homes, total, does NIEVES
22 HOMES, LLC own and occupy?
23 MR. NIEVES: I --
24 MR. STEWART: I mean, you could run and find
25 out. But I'm just asking you.
57
1 MR. NIEVES: I think it's like seven or
2 eight. When I first started, I was doing it under my
3 own name and somebody was like, "Hey, you should get an
4 LLC."
5 MR. STEWART: So you have seven or eight
6 homes?
7 MR. NIEVES: Something like that, yeah.
8 MR. STEWART: And you were worried about
9 going into the home and the roof falling on you,
10 causing injury, which you're telling me that you didn't
11 have any insurance on -- liability insurance for your
12 tenants who were living at the house at the time during
13 the fire; is that what you -- am I fair in saying that?
14 I mean, am I fair in saying that?
15 MR. NIEVES: No, no, it's a valid question.
16 It's a very valid question. I had a partner in the
17 LLC. We had an operating agreement. He was kind of in
18 charge of, like, the finance part of it. So there was
19 no insurance.
20 MR. STEWART: My next question is to the
21 City. Do you have a copy of the fire report at all?
22 MR. MORAN: Yeah, I just was looking it over.
23 MR. STEWART: Okay. It states how the fire
24 started?
25 MR. MORAN: Started on a couch, it says, in
58
1 the -- in the center of the house, in the living room.
2 MR. NIEVES: Do you want me to tell you what
3 the fire inspector told me?
4 MR. STEWART: I'm worried about what this
5 says.
6 MR. NIEVES: Okay. All right.
7 MR. MORAN: I just had it open. There it is.
8 MR. STEWART: I find it hard to believe that
9 you would take on that liability of having someone in a
10 structure.
11 MR. MORAN: "Area of origin, common room,
12 den, family room, living room and lounge. Heat source
13 was heat from an open flame or smoking materials,
14 upholstered sofa, chair and vehicle seats, type of
15 material, fabric. Cause of ignition, unintentional."
16 MR. STEWART: Does it speak to any bond that
17 the City has?
18 MR. NIEVES: There were kids playing with a
19 lighter on a couch in the living room and the couch
20 caught on fire. They tried to push it out.
21 MR. STEWART: Oh, there were kids in the
22 house?
23 MR. NIEVES: Yeah, there were two children.
24 And they tried to push the couch --
25 MR. STEWART: How --
59
1 MR. NIEVES: -- out --
2 MR. STEWART: -- old --
3 MR. NIEVES: -- the --
4 MR. STEWART: -- were --
5 MR. NIEVES: -- front --
6 MR. STEWART: -- the --
7 MR. NIEVES: -- door.
8 MR. STEWART: -- children, sir?
9 MR. NIEVES: I couldn't tell you. Maybe
10 eleven, twelve, if I could take a guess. They were
11 visiting. They didn't even live there. They were the
12 tenant's sister's kids.
13 MR. STEWART: Does the Fire Marshall speak to
14 any insurance at all?
15 MR. NIEVES: There were no adults in the
16 house when this happened.
17 MR. MORAN: Didn't show any insurance
18 requirement -- or insurance issues on it at all,
19 nothing stated there.
20 MR. STEWART: And what -- my last question to
21 you, what work was performed without a permit? You
22 said working outside the scope of a permit. What work
23 was --
24 MR. MORAN: Well, any framing that was done,
25 roof sheathing, roof materials. I mean, that's all we
60
1 could visually see. I mean, the siding was on the
2 permit. The entry doors, I think you had new entry
3 doors on there.
4 MR. NIEVES: Yeah.
5 MR. MORAN: Those weren't on the permit.
6 MR. NIEVES: Well, that's what I -- when I
7 pulled the building permit, like I said, when you
8 listen to things --
9 MR. MORAN: The windows weren't on the
10 permit.
11 MR. NIEVES: -- that were repaired --
12 MR. STEWART: Where are you sending him this
13 notice in Florida? I'm just curious.
14 MR. MORAN: He's got a responsible party
15 listed here. So those, typically, when we have an
16 out -- out of town or the owner lists somebody that's a
17 responsible party. I have a Joseph Nieves, 166 --
18 166 West Cornell in Pontiac.
19 MR. KOLBE: It's being sent to a
20 Port St. Lucie.
21 MR. STEWART: Lucie?
22 MR. KOLBE: Florida.
23 MR. STEWART: Port St. Lucie. Hey, it's real
24 nice down there.
25 MS. HOFMEISTER: Yeah, because, up until this
61
1 meeting, we've been dealing with your dad. And I
2 remember Dave saying, "I've never laid eyes on your
3 son. I've always dealt with this gentleman over here"
4 in our last meeting.
5 MR. NIEVES: Yeah, I have lived in Pontiac
6 for over eleven years. I just recently moved to Port
7 St. Lucie. That was part of why I had a partner and my
8 father who still lives in Pontiac on Cornell. And,
9 like I said, they, I thought, had everything under
10 control. And, you know, I've parted ways with my
11 partner. I have insurance on all my other houses.
12 This freaked me out because this could have
13 been a lot worse. Thankfully, no one was hurt, you
14 know. So, I mean, this let me know that, you know
15 what? No one's going to take care of my property the
16 way I would, so I have to be a little more hands-on.
17 I'm here, I would say, if put a number on it,
18 because I do have -- I have children that go to school
19 in Florida. I'm here like four months out of the year.
20 I'm usually here the entire summer, maybe like, you
21 know, two weeks here, two weeks there. If it's a big
22 project that, you know, it's worth it for me to do it
23 myself than, you know, pay quadruple, I'll come out
24 here and work on projects.
25 I try to be here. I try to visit all my
62
1 tenants while I'm here. So I'm -- you know, with this
2 particular house, I am doing my best to be on top of
3 it. The only reason more is not done, like I said, is
4 just financial commitments; that's literally the only
5 reason.
6 And, from three months until now, like I
7 said, when I opened, there's been significant progress.
8 I don't know if you have before and after pictures or
9 not but --
10 Oh, I'm sorry. To address that permit thing,
11 what I -- I looked at the permit. Like I said, this is
12 the first time I've had to pull a permit. I'm just
13 like, "Yeah, we're going to do" this, this and that,
14 you know, on my way.
15 I didn't realize, you know, I needed to put a
16 three-page document together of everything we're going
17 to do. Like, everything needed to go, other than
18 what's on the second floor. So everything you're
19 mentioning, as far as like framing, you know, like I
20 said, I have a degree in IT, not in building
21 engineering or something.
22 MR. STEWART: But you get that in your
23 Property Maintenance Inspection, what you have to do.
24 You get all of that in your Property Maintenance
25 Inspection.
63
1 MR. NIEVES: So I could have just copied it
2 over?
3 MR. STEWART: Work off of your Property
4 Maintenance Inspection. You don't have to have a
5 degree in that.
6 MR. NIEVES: Okay. You know what? I haven't
7 even seen a copy of it.
8 MR. STEWART: Why not?
9 MR. NIEVES: It's probably at my property
10 manager's house.
11 MR. STEWART: I thought you severed ties with
12 him.
13 MR. NIEVES: No, no, no. My property manager
14 is my dad. My partner who handled the finances, I
15 severed ties with him.
16 MR. STEWART: You let somebody else handle
17 your finances?
18 MR. NIEVES: Yeah, exactly.
19 MR. STEWART: Okay. Well, what is the City's
20 recommendation for this property?
21 MR. KOLBE: Well, our recommendation -- well,
22 I'll let Dave address it. He had made application, at
23 the last hour, to do some of the work. But our
24 recommendation, up until that time, is to remain on the
25 demolition list, due to lack of activity.
64
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: What's the application; I
2 mean, to extend the permit or --
3 MR. NIEVES: Yeah, I just found out today
4 that my building permit is expiring in, like, a week,
5 so I do need to extend it. Like I said, I knew before
6 the May meeting they wanted the other permits pulled.
7 The only reason they haven't been pulled is because, I
8 mean, there was so much to do, as far as like
9 building-wise, I just didn't see a point of pulling
10 them. But, for the purpose of this meeting --
11 MR. STEWART: You didn't see a point in
12 pulling them?
13 MR. NIEVES: I mean, I'm not doing any
14 electrical or plumbing. Why pull a permit for
15 something you're not even doing? Then the time is
16 ticking for the six months that you're not even
17 actually doing it.
18 So next month, I figured, you know what?
19 I'll have most of the building done, I can start with
20 the electrical and plumbing. You know, I can lose a
21 month and I'll be at five months' worth of my permit
22 time.
23 MR. MORAN: The only reason for
24 recommendation to demo is because the work that has
25 been done has been done without inspection and
65
1 approvals or anything from a design professional. We
2 don't know, to any extent, that it's even done
3 correctly.
4 MR. NIEVES: So I need to schedule
5 inspections? You know, this is a question. This is
6 not being -- you know. So, when we're done with, let's
7 just say, the roof or something on the interior of the
8 house, we have to call the City and say, "Hey, I'm done
9 with this, come out and inspect it" and keep getting
10 inspections --
11 MR. STEWART: You pull a permit. You pull a
12 permit and they come out and inspect it afterwards.
13 MR. NIEVES: Well, that's what I thought.
14 You pull it, you do the work. And then, when you're
15 done, you call up and say, "Hey, I'm done, come and
16 inspect it." That was my understanding.
17 MR. STEWART: Okay. Then what happened?
18 MR. NIEVES: It's not done.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: There's different stages of
20 inspection.
21 MR. NIEVES: Okay. That was my question. I
22 thought, hey, you're done, you call. Because, I mean,
23 it's not done. I mean, the roof's still not done, some
24 of the siding -- I mean, not the siding, the trim on
25 the windows. There's a lot of building stuff that's
66
1 not done, so I haven't called for the inspection. Or
2 else I'm going to have you guys come out again, when it
3 actually is done.
4 But, if you're saying it's got to be in
5 stages, I wasn't aware of that. I'm trying to comply
6 with, you know, the law, pull any permits I need, have
7 any inspections done. I'm not some kind of absentee
8 owner, the way, you know, I've heard, you know, or
9 that's how I feel like I'm --
10 MR. STEWART: No, you're not an absentee
11 owner, you're a negligent owner, sir, to have someone
12 in a house with some children with no insurance and, if
13 someone was to be hurt and need to go to the hospital
14 and get care, adequate care from your insurance
15 company, they would be able to get it. So that's where
16 I'm at with you.
17 MR. NIEVES: I hear you. It was a mistake.
18 MR. STEWART: So the wishes of the City is
19 what I'm going to go with.
20 And I'm going to ask you guys, again, are you
21 ready to postpone or are you ready for demolition or
22 what, for this property?
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: Hang on. Before you answer
24 that, Scott had a question.
25 MR. COPE: Just one question. You know, you
67
1 haven't convinced me that you have a commitment to
2 complete the work on this house. You've told us that
3 you don't have the money, you're going to work on it
4 when you can --
5 MR. NIEVES: I didn't say that.
6 MR. COPE: -- in your -- that's what you
7 told --
8 MR. NIEVES: I said the only reason it's not
9 completely done today or, you know, as far as like the
10 pace that it's going at, it's a matter of money. Every
11 month --
12 MR. COPE: Right.
13 MR. NIEVES: -- I seem to dunk a couple grand
14 into it. That's kind of the pace I can go at. I don't
15 have $50,000 in the bank to have it completed next
16 week.
17 MR. COPE: Well, when is it you can get it
18 completed?
19 MR. NIEVES: You know what? When you start a
20 project, you don't know what it's going to cost
21 until -- you know, I mean, like, "Oh, this won't cost
22 that much", then you dump a couple grand into it.
23 Well, a couple grand --
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: That's not how you start a
25 project.
68
1 MR. COPE: I'm not buying this because you
2 own seven houses. This is not new stuff.
3 MR. NIEVES: Oh, this is very new; dealing
4 with a fire is very new.
5 MR. COPE: Dealing with a fire is one thing
6 but doing construction, if you've owned homes, you've
7 had to be involved in some kind of construction work.
8 MR. NIEVES: To this scope?
9 How many of you have dealt with something
10 like this?
11 Come on. I've never dealt with anything like
12 this. This is insane.
13 MR. COPE: You have no clue when you can get
14 done; is that what you're telling me?
15 MR. NIEVES: I can tell you what I can get
16 done in the next three months. As far as, like, if
17 you're asking me when will the house be done, when will
18 it be livable --
19 MR. COPE: Yes. When will it be livable?
20 MR. NIEVES: If I had to take a guess, I
21 would say like a year. I mean, in the next three
22 months, I would say plumbing and electrical. And then
23 there's still drywall, flooring. I mean, you know,
24 everything's got to go.
25 Even if some of the stuff is salvageable, I'm
69
1 not going to have half the house new and half the house
2 still with the old stuff. I'm pretty much redoing the
3 entire thing. Like, I spent significant time and money
4 already in the last year. You can see the progress.
5 How we're looking that over is beyond me.
6 MR. STEWART: Yeah, there's progress, sir,
7 but not the right progress. Progress is what they're
8 trying to convey to you.
9 MR. NIEVES: All I've learned from what
10 everything you guys are saying is that I'm not calling
11 for inspections at the proper --
12 MR. STEWART: No, they're talking about the
13 scope of work and how the work has been done, as far as
14 your shingle work. And they're talking about the
15 craftsmanship of the work.
16 MR. NIEVES: No, the roof needs work.
17 MR. STEWART: Like he said, it's like a
18 four-year-old -- I'm just repeating.
19 MR. NIEVES: I can buy that. I can buy that
20 I can buy that.
21 MR. STEWART: Let the inspector --
22 MR. NIEVES: Here's what I'm saying --
23 MR. STEWART: Okay. Let me hear what you're
24 saying.
25 MR. NIEVES: Okay. If you're telling me,
70
1 "Hey this is your house. What are your priorities", do
2 you think those shingles are the top of my list? It
3 needs to get done before it's livable, 100 percent.
4 But is that my focus?
5 MR. STEWART: It should --
6 MR. NIEVES: Is that what it --
7 MR. STEWART: It should be your focus because
8 anything you put in -- and, if we get a rain storm,
9 it's going to get ruined. The roof should be first and
10 foremost.
11 MR. NIEVES: No, it's not leaking like that.
12 MR. STEWART: You say it's leaking?
13 MR. NIEVES: No, it's not. I'm saying, I
14 don't know what you're -- you could have a rain --
15 MR. STEWART: I'm saying the City is saying
16 that your shingle work is not adequate.
17 MR. NIEVES: So it's sloppy?
18 MR. STEWART: Well, that's what the inspector
19 said. I'm not an inspector.
20 MR. NIEVES: Okay.
21 MR. STEWART: An inspector said that. That's
22 a professional opinion from an inspector.
23 MR. NIEVES: Okay.
24 MR. STEWART: He's saying your work is --
25 your craftsmanship on your roof is inadequate.
71
1 MR. NIEVES: Okay.
2 MR. STEWART: That's what he's trying to say
3 to you. And I'm saying to you, when you paid your
4 money or if you paid your money or if you had friends
5 or family do it, it's inadequate for the property.
6 MR. NIEVES: I'm not disagreeing with that.
7 MR. STEWART: And they have no proof of
8 knowing that you have the right materials up
9 underneath, you know, if you had to reboard it or
10 what -- whatever you had to do. If the fire caused
11 damage to the boards, they don't know, because you
12 didn't involve them in the process. But then you want
13 to stand here and act like you don't know.
14 MR. NIEVES: I have involved them in the
15 process. I thought that's what the inspection was for.
16 If you're saying there's more inspections needing to be
17 done, I'll have them. I need you guys to tell me,
18 "Hey, Joe, take care of this. What is this?"
19 MR. STEWART: I just think a man of your
20 caliber, you're playing naive on me, that's what I
21 think.
22 MR. COPE: I think we've heard enough. I'd
23 like to make a motion that 61 North Ardmore Street
24 remain on the demo list.
25 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a second?
72
1 MR. STEWART: Second.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there any additional
3 discussion?
4 All in favor that it stay on the demolition
5 list, say "aye".
6 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
8 Hearing none, motion passes.
9 MR. NIEVES: What's the next step? Because,
10 honestly, this is new, foreign territory to me.
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: You can talk to these
12 gentleman about posting a bond.
13 MR. NIEVES: Okay.
14 (A recess was taken from 6:09 p.m.
15 to 6:14 p.m.)
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: We are going back on the
17 record. We're going to skip over the
18 844 West Huron Street and 848 and 11 Mohawk because
19 we're expecting others to come in the audience and
20 they're not here yet. So we'll go to the next one on
21 the list; and that's 48720 Woodward Avenue.
22 MR. KOLBE: 48720 Woodward Avenue is a
23 singe-family residence. It was inspected on 8-2 of
24 2017. It's a vacant, dilapidated and dangerous
25 structure. And it was boarded by the federal programs.
73
1 The garage door is gone.
2 There was a Property Maintenance Inspection
3 done. A building permit was pulled. Plumbing,
4 mechanical and electrical permits are needed.
5 There is siding and soffit and trim were
6 dilapidated, porch and stairs rotted and dilapidated.
7 There's still some debris, animals undermining. And
8 was some graffiti at one time; I believe it's been,
9 pretty much, taken care of. The electric -- or the gas
10 meter is gone, the electric meter is on.
11 We're willing to go with a postponement until
12 the November meeting if there is a strong commitment
13 that these other permits are going to be made and some
14 of the work on the inside is going to start
15 progressing. I realize we're concentrating on the
16 outside because of weather but we need to step the
17 progress up on the entire project.
18 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. Go ahead.
19 Please state your name and relationship to the
20 property.
21 MS. MURADIAN: Sharon Muradian. And I'm the
22 owner of 48720 Woodward.
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: Can you give us an update,
24 please.
25 MS. MURADIAN: Well, I got a new roof on
74
1 there. And, as we speak, the siding -- we painted the
2 house on the lower part of the brick and now the siding
3 is in the -- in -- right now being installed.
4 And inside, we've -- we've passed the roof
5 inspection for electrical and also the rough inspection
6 for plumbing. And I've had the furnace guy out. And,
7 as soon as everything is in place, he's going to give
8 us a certificate. He said the furnace is fine.
9 And so there's just a lot of work to be done
10 there, you know, with the -- we still have, you know,
11 doorwall and floors. And, I mean, we're tearing the
12 whole house out. You know, it was already done by the
13 previous owner and so, consequently, we got a -- it's
14 been a lot of money. But we're going to get it done,
15 just like I promised.
16 So we're moving along real well and I'm proud
17 of the progress that we've made. We have a lot of
18 things that we have already purchased, we're just not
19 putting them in the house yet. Okay? Until it gets to
20 a point where we can secure the house and make sure
21 that we don't lose our water heater and our other, you
22 know --
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: You've been calling for
24 inspections on a periodic basis?
25 MS. MURADIAN: I beg your pardon?
75
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: You've been calling for
2 inspections on a periodic basis?
3 MS. MURADIAN: Yes, yes.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: You guys have records of
5 that; is that correct?
6 MR. MORAN: Yeah, yeah.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
8 MR. MORAN: She's got the open roof. Rough
9 electrical and rough plumbing are passed.
10 You do need a final on your roof; you can
11 call that anytime, final inspection on the roof.
12 MS. MURADIAN: You know, I --
13 MR. MORAN: You had an open roof inspection.
14 MS. MURADIAN: We did the open roof
15 inspection.
16 MR. MORAN: Now you need a final on the roof.
17 MS. MURADIAN: You know, I don't know if the
18 roofer did that or not; I will find that out.
19 MR. MORAN: It's not a big deal.
20 MS. MURADIAN: I don't know that.
21 MR. MORAN: Just call.
22 MS. MURADIAN: Okay. All right. I mean, it
23 looks great. And he done a nice job and he's been paid
24 and gone. But I will be more than happy to look into
25 that because I didn't realize -- I was only informed
76
1 that it was open inspection was needed.
2 MR. MORAN: You still need a final.
3 MS. MURADIAN: I didn't know a final's
4 needed.
5 MR. MORAN: That final needs to be passed.
6 MS. MURADIAN: Okay. We'll take care of
7 that. Thank you.
8 MR. MORAN: Thank you.
9 THE CHAIRPERSON: Where do you think you
10 might be, if we postpone this until the November
11 meeting?
12 MS. MURADIAN: I sure hope so; I hope it's
13 done then.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: It will be done?
15 MS. MURADIAN: I mean, we're going into the
16 winter then, and so we're really pushing. We have a
17 new garage door. So, I mean, we're just redoing the
18 entire house, so it's all been a lot of work.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Thank you.
20 Any other discussions from the Board or
21 anybody else?
22 Is there a motion, please?
23 MS. HOFMEISTER: I'll make a motion that
24 48720 Woodward Avenue is postponed until the 11-15
25 meeting.
77
1 MR. STEWART: I second.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any additional discussion?
3 Hearing none, all in favor, say "aye".
4 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
6 None. Motion passes.
7 MS. MURADIAN: Thank you.
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Hopefully we don't see you
9 next -- in November.
10 MS. MURADIAN: I hope the next time will be
11 the last time; I hope so. Okay. Thank you.
12 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
13 Next item is 821 East Pike Street.
14 MR. KOLBE: 821 East Pike is a single-family.
15 It was inspected on 8-2 of 2017. It's a vacant,
16 dilapidated structure. Roof is rotted, appears there
17 may be a hole in it. Roof, siding and trim are, again,
18 all rotted. Porch crumbling at the front entry,
19 foundation is also crumbling, there's debris, unkept,
20 animals undermining. The bars on the windows and
21 guardrails and handrails on the porch are missing. Gas
22 meter is gone and the electric meter is gone and
23 service has been disconnected.
24 Our recommendation is to remain on the
25 demolition list.
78
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Was there ever a -- a
2 Property Maintenance Inspection called for?
3 MR. KOLBE: No. Because the owner is
4 planning on wanting it torn down. I don't know why we
5 don't just progress with that direction, but --
6 THE CHAIRPERSON: Go ahead, sir.
7 MR. GRAYER: My name is Lee Grayer.
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: You're the owner?
9 MR. GRAYER: I'm the owner, yes, I am.
10 So far, I have pulled all the -- the water is
11 disconnected. And the sewage; that permit (sic) been
12 done, DET have been completed. Consumers, I haven't
13 paid -- they only scheduled, it's been paid for but
14 it's in their scheduling time but I have paid
15 everything. Like he said, I want the house just torn
16 down.
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Oh, okay.
18 MR. GRAYER: But I want it myself -- I wanted
19 to do it myself so I won't ask for whoever -- where is
20 that on your demolition list? I came up here once and
21 they couldn't give me no answer.
22 MR. KOLBE: Because it hasn't been ordered
23 down, it's not going to show up on a demolition list.
24 And, even if it did, it would not be taken down yet
25 this year, possibly even into next year.
79
1 MR. GRAYER: Oh, that will be --
2 MR. KOLBE: Like I say, there's plenty of
3 time in that period. You can still take it down
4 yourself, even if it does get ordered down by this
5 entity.
6 MR. GRAYER: Okay. Because what I was
7 going -- what I want I was going to ask for an
8 extension until the spring so I can start back up. I
9 haven't did nothing on the inside. I need to get a
10 storage.
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: But you're getting -- you
12 want the house to be demolished?
13 MR. GRAYER: Yes.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
15 MR. GRAYER: But I want to do it myself.
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: But you've called for the
17 shut-off notices?
18 MR. GRAYER: Everything has been completed --
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
20 MR. GRAYER: -- the shut-off notice. The gas
21 is the only one that hasn't been done. But I have paid
22 for the shut-off process, I'm just waiting for them.
23 They said it was going to be this week, so it may be
24 the next day or two. But the rest of it, the sewage,
25 the electrical, everything has been disconnected.
80
1 MR. COPE: I'd like to make a motion that
2 821 East Pike Street remain on the demolition list.
3 MS. HOFMEISTER: I second.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Is there additional
5 discussion?
6 Hearing none, all in favor, say "aye".
7 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
8 Any opposed?
9 None. Motion passes.
10 MR. STEWART: Abstain.
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: I'm sure you'll have plenty
12 of time to do it, sir.
13 MR. GRAYER: Okay. That's all I need.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: Next item is 313 West Huron
15 Street.
16 MR. KOLBE: 313 West Huron is -- was a
17 duplex. It was inspected on 2 -- or 8-2 of 2017. It
18 was a dilapidated house and garage. It is occupied.
19 The roof on the house and garage were in bad shape.
20 The garage -- the house roof is being repaired.
21 Siding, trim, chimney and porch are rotted and
22 missing -- some siding is missing.
23 There's a lot of debris, overgrown, unkempt
24 and animals undermining, chimney is ready to collapse,
25 fence in the rear is falling over. The gas meter is
81
1 locked out and electric meter is on.
2 Our recommendation is, actually, to postpone
3 until the November meeting, if work progresses and the
4 rest of permits get pulled.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: Go ahead, please.
6 MS. HAWKINS: Hi. My name is
7 La Kiesha Hawkins. I'm the owner of 313 West Huron
8 Street and I did put a new roof on there, I'm waiting
9 on a final. And, while they were up there, I had them
10 do the flat roofs, also, and balcony. So everything
11 out there is new. And they did whatever needed to be
12 done to the chimney; they got that taken care of.
13 And I -- I was looking to have everything
14 done by this meeting. But, by doing all the wood and
15 everything, it was more of a cost, so I'm just asking
16 for the three more months and I -- I should have
17 everything finished. The major part is done.
18 THE CHAIRPERSON: But it -- there's
19 electrical work that was completed as well?
20 MS. HAWKINS: No, they -- they're asking for
21 electrical to come in because the wiring is old in the
22 house.
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: Right.
24 MS. HAWKINS: But I -- I haven't got to that
25 yet. I wanted to pay for the roof because I'm paying
82
1 for everything out of pocket. So I want to pay for the
2 roof and get that done so the snow wouldn't come and
3 the roof wasn't done.
4 And Fri -- by Friday, I'll get another check
5 and I'll try to put the siding on there and paint the
6 house.
7 MR. KOLBE: It was recommended that she step
8 up and put the roof on.
9 THE CHAIRPERSON: Right.
10 MR. KOLBE: No need to do nothing inside,
11 only to have it water damaged because of a leaky roof.
12 So she did exactly what our recommendations were and
13 concentrated on the roof.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a lot of work that
15 needs to be done on the inside, do you remember, from
16 the Property Maintenance Inspection?
17 MR. MORAN: I'm looking at it right now
18 because it was done back in 2015.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: '15, right.
20 MR. MORAN: Needs a new roof, garage, siding,
21 and trim repairs, garage entry door, guardrails,
22 handrails, broken windows, window screens, electrical
23 hazards, plumbing work.
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: Do we know the condition of
25 the inside?
83
1 MR. MORAN: Interior junk and debris, new
2 smoke alarms, furnace certification on two furnaces.
3 Not real specific but it's basically any and all
4 violations under those permits.
5 MR. KOLBE: I don't remember there --
6 MR. MORAN: There was a lot of electrical
7 issues.
8 MR. KOLBE: -- being a lot of work needing on
9 the inside, if memory serves me.
10 THE CHAIRPERSON: What kind of work do you
11 know needs to be done on the inside? I heard something
12 about the electrical --
13 MS. HAWKINS: Yes.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- had to be --
15 MS. HAWKINS: He said --
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- still --
17 MS. HAWKINS: -- that my --
18 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- fixed.
19 MS. HAWKINS: -- boxes is old.
20 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
21 MS. HAWKINS: It's probably been in there
22 since the house was born -- well, not born but --
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: Built.
24 MS. HAWKINS: Yes, built. But my plan is
25 that's the next big project. But I want to get the
84
1 roof fixed. But I will be able to take care of
2 everything.
3 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
4 MR. COPE: I'd like to make a motion that we
5 postpone the property at 313 West Huron Street to our
6 next meeting on November 15th.
7 MR. STEWART: I'll second that.
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there any further
9 discussion?
10 Hearing none, all in favor of the motion, say
11 "aye".
12 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
13 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
14 None. Motion passes. Good luck.
15 MS. HAWKINS: Thank you.
16 MR. MORAN: Good luck.
17 MS. HAWKINS: Thank you.
18 THE CHAIRPERSON: And should we go on to the
19 Huron Street project?
20 MR. KOLBE: No. We got a couple more people.
21 Voorheis.
22 315 Voorheis would be the next one.
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. So we're doing that
24 one next?
25 MR. KOLBE: Yep.
85
1 MR. KOLBE: 315 Voorheis/8 Peggy is a duplex
2 and a single-family home. This property was just sold
3 through the County auction.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: Oh.
5 MR. KOLBE: And we postponed it last meeting
6 because it had some potential and it was -- it had been
7 taken back by Oakland County for the auction. So
8 the -- the Board decided to postpone this. It has
9 since been purchased at that auction. There will be --
10 It's a vacant, deteriorated and dangerous
11 structure. The siding, soffits, trim and -- and garage
12 are dilapidated. There is some graffiti, overgrown,
13 debris, unkempt, animals undermining and some broken
14 windows, rotted and unsafe porch, missing guardrails
15 and handrails. Two of the gas meters are locked out,
16 one electric meter is on, one is off and one is
17 missing.
18 There will be -- need to be a new Property
19 Maintenance Inspection done and, basically, kind of
20 starting over. But our strong recommendation is
21 postponing until the November meeting, to allow the new
22 owner to get started. She seems very anxious to get
23 going. But we were reluctant to go too far because we
24 wanted to make sure that this entity would -- the Board
25 was going to allow us to continue on. So --
86
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. I'm going to
2 correct myself. It's also the 8 Peggy Street. It --
3 MR. KOLBE: Right.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- appears to be two
5 structures.
6 MR. KOLBE: Right.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: That's why I see there's a
8 much smaller one. Is that what I see, the 8 Peggy?
9 MR. COPE: Right. There's a duplex in the
10 front and then and what is being referred to as 8
11 Peggy, behind it, is a third unit, a second structure
12 and a house upon itself.
13 THE CHAIRPERSON: It has the same -- has a
14 different address?
15 MR. KOLBE: Same parcel ID number.
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: But same parcel ID number.
17 MR. KOLBE: All three parcels -- or buildings
18 are on the same parcel ID number.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
20 MR. KOLBE: So --
21 THE CHAIRPERSON: Go ahead. Thank you.
22 MS. MASNARI: Hi.
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: Introduce yourself, please.
24 MS. MASNARI: Hi, I'm Carolyn Masnari.
25 THE CHAIRPERSON: You're the owner?
87
1 MS. MASNARI: Yes, I am.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Can you give us an
3 update, please.
4 MS. MASNARI: Well, I just purchased it on
5 the 11th, so I'm --
6 THE CHAIRPERSON: 11th of this month?
7 MS. MASNARI: Yeah.
8 MR. KOLBE: Yes.
9 MS. MASNARI: So I'm not really -- I'm trying
10 to figure everything out. And I was gone out of town.
11 We had rented a place for vacation. So I just got back
12 today, so I -- I haven't done anything except get the
13 purchase done and I haven't gone forward yet.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. So you need to call
15 for a Property Maintenance Inspection.
16 MR. KOLBE: Right. And the reason for the
17 delay in the purchase of it is, the County, when they
18 did the auction paperwork, it was originally marked
19 condemned.
20 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
21 MR. KOLBE: Okay? It was on that category.
22 However, the County also found the high potential in
23 this property.
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: All right.
25 MR. KOLBE: They put it under their Realtor
88
1 to the Rescue group. And, when they did, it went over
2 the top of the condemned comment and got pushed into
3 the rest of the properties.
4 All the condemned and condemned awaiting
5 clearance properties in Pontiac were kind of clustered
6 together. So people knew that it's this point that
7 they were getting into; well, the person that bought it
8 didn't, backed out of it, they contacted Carol and she
9 was willing to go ahead on the purchase. She was one
10 of the bidders to purchase it. So that was why the
11 delay from the auction of last month to today.
12 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
13 MR. KOLBE: But --
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: If I could ask, I'm
15 assuming you're going to be renting these three
16 properties -- these three addresses?
17 MS. MASNARI: Well, I'm -- I'm thinking of
18 either selling it again --
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
20 MS. MASNARI: -- or possibly using it as a
21 residence. I -- I am an artist and I need some extra
22 space for my work and so forth. I live in Bloomfield
23 right now. I'm in a ranch-type house and I -- I'm not
24 sure if -- I'm going to see how much everything's going
25 to cost. If it's getting above my budget, I'm going to
89
1 try and just sell it on to another person but --
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
3 MS. MASNARI: -- myself --
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: You're going to explore the
5 cost first?
6 MS. MASNARI: Yeah. I had -- I had a builder
7 come and give me some estimates and so forth. So it
8 seems feasible to me right now.
9 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
10 MS. MASNARI: But I have to see. I'm
11 listening to all of your talking and I'm thinking, "Oh,
12 I didn't know this, I didn't know that." It's making
13 me open my eyes.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: Welcome to the world of
15 development.
16 MR. KOLBE: But she does something that the
17 rest of them don't do; is she consults with the right
18 people.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
20 MR. KOLBE: When she came in, she had a
21 realtor. Between her and her realtor, they were asking
22 all the right questions.
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
24 MR. KOLBE: And that's what she's doing that
25 some of the others are not.
90
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Are not?
2 MR. KOLBE: They're asking the question when
3 they don't know what they're doing.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
5 MR. KOLBE: You know, "When do I have my next
6 inspection? When do I do --" you know, "What's my next
7 step?" And she's very -- very on it.
8 MS. MASNARI: I have two realtor friends who
9 are helping me; they looked at it. And I have a
10 builder who's a friend. And --
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
12 MS. MASNARI: -- I had -- I had a
13 professional builder come over to give me the estimate.
14 This other builder friend has got a lot of people who
15 do work, you know, electrical and so forth. So I'm --
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: So, if we postpone this --
17 MS. MASNARI: -- supported.
18 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- until November, I'm
19 assuming, by then, not only will you know whether
20 you're moving forward, you would have already moved
21 forward?
22 MS. MASNARI: Yeah.
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: So the first thing you're
24 going to have to do is call for a Property Maintenance
25 Inspection.
91
1 MS. MASNARI: Okay.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: So that you understand the
3 scope of the work that needs to be done.
4 MS. MASNARI: Yes, yes. Can you tell me, on
5 the reports that you already have, what you see? I see
6 that somebody's been working with you before. Do you
7 have anything that is --
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: The office --
9 MS. MASNARI: -- a concern that I should know
10 about, as far as the roof and the other things?
11 MR. MORAN: You know, both roofs look fairly
12 new, within the last few years. So I don't think
13 you'll have any issues with the roof. But --
14 MS. MASNARI: Okay. I saw the roof and
15 siding so I didn't know if the --
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: The siding looks in pretty
17 good shape, at least from the photos.
18 MR. MORAN: The siding looks in good shape
19 except for a couple areas where it was damaged.
20 MS. MASNARI: It's got graffiti on it.
21 MR. MORAN: Whether it was weather related or
22 not, I'm not sure.
23 MS. MASNARI: Right.
24 MR. MORAN: Obviously, the front house on
25 Voorheis is completely stripped down to the frame, so
92
1 you've got insulation, drywall, all --
2 MS. MASNARI: Yeah.
3 THE CHAIRPERSON: All that is gone from the
4 inside?
5 MR. KOLBE: The front house is gutted. And
6 it was in one of our -- I think it was the last meeting
7 we were at, it was open to trespass.
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
9 MR. KOLBE: So we went inside. And, if we
10 look at the back part of the pictures, you'll probably
11 see some interior shots of the house.
12 MR. MORAN: My notes here, from the other
13 Property Maintenance, is the duplex is missing wiring,
14 plumbing, furnace, hot water heater and will need all
15 new insulation, drywall, interior finishes, cabinets,
16 fixtures, interior finishes, flooring, that kind of
17 thing. So --
18 THE CHAIRPERSON: Do you know where this
19 is --
20 MR. MORAN: But the exterior is in real good
21 shape.
22 MS. HOFMEISTER: It's a nice house, a real
23 nice house.
24 MS. MASNARI: Okay. What about -- did you
25 say something about animal something?
93
1 MR. MORAN: Undermining.
2 MS. MASNARI: What does that -- what does
3 that mean?
4 MR. MORAN: Is that on there?
5 MR. KOLBE: It could be under the sidewalk,
6 some critter has tunneled.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: A raccoon or something is
8 digging. They love to dig around.
9 MS. MASNARI: All right.
10 MR. STEWART: There are two -- there's the
11 two-family and then there's another dwelling on this
12 property; is that correct?
13 MR. KOLBE: That's correct.
14 MR. MORAN: And a garage between them.
15 MR. KOLBE: Right.
16 MR. MORAN: There's three structures.
17 MR. KOLBE: And what makes it kind of unique,
18 as I was telling her, is there are three driveways to
19 it.
20 THE CHAIRPERSON: Oh.
21 MR. KOLBE: So it makes it very convenient,
22 as a duplex, they're not sharing a driveway, where you
23 have to, as a landlord, mediate an argument between the
24 tenants, "You're parking over on my side of the
25 driveway" type of thing.
94
1 "You've got this one.
2 You've got that one.
3 And you've got that one over here."
4 MR. STEWART: You have a lot on your hands,
5 ma'am.
6 MR. KOLBE: So there's a lot of potential to
7 it.
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: That's why I was just
9 asking about the neighborhood. They say it's a nice
10 neighborhood.
11 MS. MASNARI: Yeah, it's a pretty good
12 neighborhood. And I really don't want to be a
13 landlord. I would rather sell it to somebody else
14 after, if I decide I don't want to live in it.
15 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
16 MS. MASNARI: I'd rather pass it on to
17 somebody to go forward with that kind of thing.
18 Because I'm not the kind of person who thinks I can
19 handle that.
20 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Is there a motion
21 from the Board?
22 MS. HOFMEISTER: Okay. I make a motion
23 315 Voorheis/8 Peggy be postponed until the 11-15
24 meeting.
25 MR. STEWART: I'll second that.
95
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Is there any further
2 discussion?
3 Hearing none, all in favor, say "aye".
4 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
6 No. Motion passes.
7 MS. MASNARI: Okay.
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Give us an update in
9 November.
10 MS. MASNARI: All right. Thank you.
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
12 Do we have --
13 MR. KOLBE: 95 Mark is a single-family
14 residence, was inspected on 8-2-2017. It was a vacant,
15 dilapidated and deteriorated structure. The north,
16 east and west elevation windows are broken, porch is
17 crumbling, broken boarded windows. Siding, trim and
18 garage are deteriorating. It's overgrown, debris,
19 unkempt, major debris in the yard, missing guardrail
20 and handrail on the front and rear porches. The gas
21 meter is off and broken and the electric meter is on.
22 There was a Property Maintenance Inspection
23 done and all the permits had been pulled. All the
24 permits have since expired. And our recommendation is
25 to remain on the demolition list, as no progress has
96
1 been made.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: Go ahead, sir.
3 MR. EDWARDS: Reginald Edwards.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: You're the owner?
5 MR. EDWARDS: Yes, sir.
6 THE CHAIRPERSON: Can you explain to us
7 what's going on, please?
8 MR. EDWARDS: It's all finished. All I need
9 is somebody to inspect it now so I can close the
10 basement up. I put all new plumbing, everything in
11 there. Everything's -- I got to just paint. I haven't
12 painted the inside. I don't know if that had to be
13 done. But all, no holes, no nothing.
14 MR. KOLBE: Well, he made a request to extend
15 the permits but just never came in and paid for them.
16 MR. EDWARDS: All I need is two weeks for the
17 new window to come. I got one more window to put in.
18 THE CHAIRPERSON: Did you hear what they
19 said; that you haven't extended the permit?
20 MR. EDWARDS: Yeah. I'll come Friday. I
21 told them I'll come Friday.
22 MR. KOLBE: But he didn't pay for it.
23 MR. EDWARDS: Man, you'll get your money.
24 You'll get the money; I promise you. My house is about
25 finished. Trust me. Woo, I can't wait.
97
1 MR. KOLBE: If you wanted to allow him --
2 MR. EDWARDS: Man, I did a lot of work in
3 that house.
4 MR. KOLBE: -- to continue with a drop-dead
5 date, you know, that he has his permits back up and
6 running by the end of the month or -- you know, however
7 you might want to do that. But --
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: How much work has to be
9 completed --
10 MR. EDWARDS: I --
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- in your opinion?
12 MR. EDWARDS: I have to paint the outside. I
13 have to paint the outside, put the guardrail on the
14 two -- I put new steps in the back. I did a little
15 short rail back there and on the side. And I just need
16 to paint the outside. The inside, only thing it need
17 to do is be painted; that's it, and put my new tiles
18 down.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: And inspected?
20 MR. EDWARDS: And inspected. Because I got
21 the basement still open, where I put all the new pipe
22 and sewer lines and stuff in there. I'm just waiting
23 on them to inspect that so I can close it up.
24 MR. COPE: How long will it take you to
25 complete the work?
98
1 MR. EDWARDS: About two weeks.
2 MR. COPE: Two weeks.
3 MR. MORAN: What did you do with your sewage
4 and the water intrusion in the basement?
5 MR. EDWARDS: I scraped everything off the
6 floors and put it in dumpsters and put new pipes in
7 there. I put all new sewer lines in there.
8 MR. MORAN: You got --
9 MR. EDWARDS: I dug it up.
10 THE CHAIRPERSON: And you say the floor is
11 still open so they can inspect the pipe?
12 MR. EDWARDS: Yeah. Because I didn't want to
13 close it, then they tell me I got to open it back up.
14 MR. MORAN: I was going to say, you got no
15 inspections on your plumbing permit.
16 MR. EDWARDS: No, I got everything waiting to
17 be inspected, trust me.
18 THE CHAIRPERSON: When can you come in and
19 pay for the permit extensions?
20 MR. EDWARDS: Friday. This Friday.
21 MR. COPE: And everything is visible for
22 inspections?
23 MR. EDWARDS: Yes, sir. I put all new
24 lights, everything there.
25 MR. MORAN: We just haven't seen any activity
99
1 over there in a while.
2 MR. EDWARDS: Hey, Man, you know what? I get
3 off late at night, you be at home sleeping. Yeah, I
4 get off at 6:00 in the evening and I go over there.
5 I got lights all up. Oh, yeah. See? Come
6 on and see. Come on, you'll see.
7 MR. MORAN: I'll do the inspection. I'll
8 have to come see it.
9 MR. EDWARDS: Yeah. You will like it.
10 MS. HOFMEISTER: In two weeks?
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: You tell me. Three?
12 MR. KOLBE: Give him until the end of the
13 month.
14 MS. HOFMEISTER: We'll give him 30 days.
15 MR. EDWARDS: Come on. I'll be finished. I
16 want you to come and inspect, though.
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a motion, then,
18 please?
19 MS. HOFMEISTER: I'll make a motion that
20 95 Mark be given 30 days to complete his inspection and
21 be completely done.
22 MR. EDWARDS: You got it.
23 MR. KOLBE: Or?
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: Or we'll call his wife.
25 MR. EDWARDS: Man, please don't call her.
100
1 "What have you been doing all this time", she will ask.
2 Don't do that.
3 MR. KOLBE: Or it's going on the demolition
4 list?
5 MS. HOFMEISTER: Yeah.
6 MR. KOLBE: Is that what you mean? Okay.
7 MR. COPE: I second.
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any additional discussion?
9 Hearing none, all in favor, say "aye".
10 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: Motion passes. Thank you,
12 sir.
13 MR. EDWARDS: You guys are the best.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: You're done, sir.
15 MR. EDWARDS: You all put me to work; I just
16 want you all to know that. I'll see you guys.
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Next, is there someone else
18 here? Please.
19 MR. KOLBE: No. Just the next one is
20 844 West Huron, 848 West Huron and 11 Mohawk.
21 THE CHAIRPERSON: But those people are not
22 here yet?
23 MR. KOLBE: Well, 848 West Huron is here.
24 11 Mohawk called and said that they were not
25 going to be able to make the meeting.
101
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Oh.
2 MR. KOLBE: And we were giving 844 the
3 opportunity to come to be part of this, but --
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: That doesn't make any sense
5 to postpone this until the end?
6 MR. KOLBE: No.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: Oh, okay.
8 MR. KOLBE: Yeah, no.
9 THE CHAIRPERSON: Fine.
10 MR. KOLBE: We'll take it on at this point.
11 844 West Huron, it's a garage, was inspected
12 on 8-2 of 2017. I'll also inject 848 West Huron, same
13 garage, was inspected the same date, along with 11
14 Mohawk is a garage that was inspected on 8-2 of 2017.
15 This is a six-car garage that spans three
16 parcels. It's a dangerous and dilapidated structure.
17 The roof is collapsing. The roof, siding and trim are
18 very deteriorated. It's overgrown, debris, unkempt.
19 There is no gas meter or electric meter.
20 Our recommendation is to remain on the
21 demolition list, as this is beyond repair. It would
22 mean a major remodeling of it. The only thing that we
23 did caution them on, which can also be done even with a
24 demolition order, if they wanted to rebuild the garage,
25 they could do this in conjunction with a building
102
1 permit as a remodeling of it. But they probably would
2 not be able to necessarily tear it down and rebuild
3 because of zoning, because of the -- the --
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
5 MR. KOLBE: -- the lot line situation, et
6 cetera. So --
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: Let me ask a few questions
8 to try to understand this.
9 MR. KOLBE: Sure.
10 THE CHAIRPERSON: The -- the demolition, this
11 issue is on the agenda because of the garage?
12 MR. KOLBE: Correct.
13 THE CHAIRPERSON: But that's on --
14 MR. KOLBE: The house --
15 THE CHAIRPERSON: Those are fine?
16 MR. KOLBE: The houses are fine. All of
17 these, yes, it's simply the garage. You'll see a
18 picture of the front of the house --
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: I saw this.
20 MR. KOLBE: -- only for reference because you
21 may not know where that address is but, when you see
22 the house picture, "Oh, yeah, I know exactly where
23 that's at."
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: Oh.
25 MR. KOLBE: And that's why the reference
103
1 picture of the house was given for you; it was for that
2 purpose.
3 THE CHAIRPERSON: All right. Go ahead, sir.
4 Your name?
5 MR. TOOTLA: Sam Tootla. I'm the owner of
6 848 West Huron.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: And you wish that this be
8 torn down; is that --
9 MR. TOOTLA: It simply has to go, sir. I
10 have no gripe about that. This structure cannot stand;
11 it's too far gone.
12 MR. KOLBE: That was also 11 Mohawk's voice
13 today, when I talked to him, was --
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is it here because they're
15 not going to collectively have it torn down? I guess I
16 don't understand why -- if everybody wants it torn
17 down, then why isn't it?
18 MR. KOLBE: Well, it's getting three parties
19 to agree on something. And it's hopeful that it's --
20 now that it's been ordered down, that, perhaps, they
21 will kick into gear that something has to be done with
22 it --
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
24 MR. KOLBE: -- or the City's going to do it.
25 THE CHAIRPERSON: And it will cost them more?
104
1 Okay.
2 MR. KOLBE: Well, if the City does it,
3 they're not going to be able to rebuild the garage
4 there.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: Oh, okay.
6 MR. KOLBE: So that's kind of the -- you
7 know, if they don't care about the garage --
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: That's the carrot?
9 MR. KOLBE: -- they don't care about using
10 it --
11 The other thing that adds to the situation
12 here, there is a fourth parcel. In one of the
13 pictures, you'll see, was taken to the end of the --
14 the picture.
15 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yeah.
16 MR. KOLBE: It doesn't show up quite well.
17 But you got a picture that looks something like this.
18 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
19 MR. KOLBE: If you look in front of the
20 garage at the pavement, just before the date, you're
21 going to see kind of an L-shaped thing there written on
22 the pavement.
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: Uh-huh.
24 MR. KOLBE: There is a fourth parcel that is
25 in front of the -- all the garage doors.
105
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Could you make it a little
2 more complicated?
3 MR. KOLBE: Yes. Because that's owned by a
4 fourth party.
5 MR. COPE: Now, I assume we're talking about
6 the garage only?
7 MR. KOLBE: Only the garage.
8 MR. COPE: Because I see house pictures on
9 each of these.
10 MR. KOLBE: Again, they're only for
11 reference. Because the residents down at the end know
12 a lot of the City and know the house by sight and they
13 may not necessarily know the garage behind them.
14 MR. COPE: Okay.
15 MR. KOLBE: So that's why we -- I took a
16 picture of the garage so they would know where we were
17 at.
18 MR. COPE: I think this is pretty clear here.
19 MR. KOLBE: Yeah.
20 MR. COPE: I'd like to make a motion to have
21 844 West Huron Street, 848 West Huron Street and
22 11 Mohawk Drive, the garages on all those properties,
23 remain on the demolition list.
24 MS. HOFMEISTER: I'll second.
25 THE CHAIRPERSON: There's a second. Any
106
1 additional discussions?
2 Hearing none, all in favor of the motion for
3 demolition of the garage only, in favor, say "aye".
4 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
6 None. Motion passes. Thank you.
7 MR. TOOTLA: Thank you.
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there anybody else here
9 on the --
10 MR. MORAN: No.
11 (Off the record discussion.)
12 THE CHAIRPERSON: All right. So, then, I
13 guess we'll start at the top.
14 MR. KOLBE: Yep.
15 THE CHAIRPERSON: Item Number 2?
16 MR. KOLBE: And we can go to 5 --
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: 583 --
18 MR. KOLBE: Arthur --
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- Arthur --
20 MR. KOLBE: -- Avenue --
21 THE CHAIRPERSON: -- Avenue --
22 MR. KOLBE: -- is a single-family residence.
23 It was inspected on 8-2 of 2017. It's a vacant,
24 fire-damaged, dangerous, dilapidated structure. The
25 fire occurred on 8-16 of 2016.
107
1 The basement window is open, doors and
2 windows are boarded. The roof, siding, soffits, trim,
3 chimney and rear porch are either fire-damaged or
4 dilapidated. Debris, unkempt, animals undermining,
5 broken windows, continues to work on cars out in the
6 garage, there's several abandoned vehicles, porch
7 crumbling in front. The gas meter is off and the
8 electric meter is gone.
9 The recommendation is to remain on the
10 demolition list. This was before you at the May
11 meeting.
12 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a motion from the
13 Board?
14 MS. HOFMEISTER: I recommend that
15 583 Arthur Avenue be put on the demolition list.
16 MR. STEWART: Second.
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any -- any additional
18 discussion?
19 Hearing none, all in favor of the motion for
20 demolition, say "aye".
21 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
22 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
23 None. Motion carries.
24 MR. KOLBE: 546 Bloomfield Avenue,
25 single-family residence. It was inspected on 8-2 of
108
1 2017. All permits have been pulled that were required,
2 all of them have been finalized. And our
3 recommendation, at this time, is for dismissal.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: Awesome. Is there a
5 motion, please?
6 MS. HOFMEISTER: I recommend that
7 546 Bloomfield Avenue be dismissed.
8 MR. STEWART: Second.
9 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Any additional
10 discussion?
11 All in favor, say "aye".
12 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
13 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
14 Hearing none. Motion passes.
15 MR. KOLBE: 150 Cadillac Street,
16 single-family residence, inspected on 8-2 of 2017.
17 It's a vacant, dangerous and dilapidated structure.
18 The upper front window is open to trespass. There's
19 also a side window that was open. Roof, siding, trim
20 and porch are dilapidated and cracks in the foundation.
21 It's overgrown, debris, unkempt, rear porch
22 is crumbling, missing handrails and guardrails. The
23 gas meter is locked out and the electric meter is not
24 visible.
25 Our recommendation is to remain on the
109
1 demolition list.
2 MR. COPE: I'd like to make a motion that
3 150 Cadillac Street remain on the demolition list.
4 MS. HOFMEISTER: I second.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any additional discussion?
6 All in favor of the motion for demolition,
7 say "aye".
8 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
9 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
10 None. Motion carries.
11 MR. KOLBE: 175 Chippewa is a garage only.
12 It is -- the garage door is ajar. The roof is rotted
13 and collapsing. There is a -- the garage door, again,
14 is ajar, completely dilapidated, it's overgrown,
15 debris, unkempt, broken windows. Their gas meter and
16 electric meter are not applicable.
17 Our recommendation is to remain on the
18 demolition list.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a -- the house is
20 fine? I see the last page is --
21 MR. KOLBE: Yeah, it should have been a
22 picture of the house.
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yeah, there at the very
24 end.
25 MR. KOLBE: Yeah.
110
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Because this goes back to
2 June. So --
3 MR. KOLBE: Yeah. But the house is not a
4 factor, it's just only there for reference.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Thank you.
6 MR. STEWART: Is this the house that's on the
7 corner?
8 MR. KOLBE: No, it's middle of the block. I
9 won't say dead-center but it's in the middle.
10 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a motion from the
11 Board, please.
12 MR. COPE: Motion --
13 MS. HOFMEISTER: I'll make a recommendation
14 that 175 Chippewa Road, garage only, stay on the
15 demolition list.
16 MR. STEWART: I'll second that.
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any additional discussion?
18 Hearing none, all in favor of the motion for
19 demolition, say "aye".
20 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
21 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
22 None. Motion carries.
23 MR. KOLBE: The next one we have is
24 499 Colorado Avenue. It was inspected on 8-2 of 2017.
25 It's a dilapidated house, vacant and dangerous
111
1 building. Rear windows are boarded, front door is
2 boarded. There's a hole in the porch roof. The front
3 door frame gaps, foundation is settling, the -- again,
4 rotted roof, siding, soffits, trim, doors and windows.
5 Chimney is crumbling.
6 It's overgrown, debris, unkempt, animals
7 undermining. The rear porch is falling off of the
8 building, missing handrails and guardrails, working
9 without permits. And the gas meter is locked out and
10 the electric meter is on.
11 Before I get to the recommendation, this
12 house was owned by a gentleman who was incarcerated.
13 His father was -- or his uncle was trying to work on
14 his behalf. He has, since then, gotten out of prison.
15 He is on a tether and did not contact his counselor --
16 MR. STEWART: Parole officer.
17 MR. KOLBE: -- parole officer on time to be
18 able to make it to the meeting. He wants to have a
19 place to go to once he gets out. I told him some work
20 that he needed to have done, to make sure that the
21 water bill hasn't been run up because it was open to
22 trespass while he was gone for a period of time.
23 What our recommendation is, if he is going to
24 have his Property Maintenance Inspection by the end of
25 the month -- if he does not have that, our
112
1 recommendation is to go onto the demolition list.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: Did he indicate that he
3 could have a -- he would call for it?
4 MR. KOLBE: He -- he was -- if he -- he was
5 planning to call for it, provided that -- again, I gave
6 him -- you know, he doesn't know -- there's been no tax
7 liens placed against the property, although he thinks
8 that the last tax bill has been getting paid with the
9 funds that, you know, were available, but he wasn't
10 sure of that.
11 So he's going to check to make sure tax bills
12 have been paid, what the water bill is, so that he
13 doesn't get hit by some huge bills down the road after
14 he started putting some money into it and then get
15 blindsided by some large bills.
16 So he -- he seems very rational, in talking
17 with him. And that is why I was giving the -- changing
18 the recommendation -- because I just talked to him
19 today -- that I recommend that, if he does have his
20 Property Maintenance Inspection by the end of the
21 month, that we'd give him the opportunity for a
22 postponement.
23 MR. STEWART: Okay. I have a question.
24 MR. KOLBE: Yes?
25 MR. STEWART: Are you guys going to be
113
1 working with him, considering his circumstances with
2 being on tether, coming down and making applications
3 with set times and with inspections?
4 MR. KOLBE: It shouldn't be a problem, if
5 he -- you know.
6 MR. STEWART: Okay.
7 MR. KOLBE: You know, he's going to have to
8 check with his parole officer to be able to get down
9 but he can also do his applications by mail.
10 MR. STEWART: Okay.
11 MR. KOLBE: So that is also an alternative.
12 MR. STEWART: Okay.
13 MR. KOLBE: He just didn't have time to do
14 any of that.
15 MR. STEWART: Okay.
16 MR. KOLBE: And he really wanted to attend
17 this meeting to represent himself but, he --
18 MR. STEWART: Can't --
19 MR. KOLBE: Basically, his hands are tied.
20 He doesn't want to get himself in trouble.
21 MR. STEWART: Be out of range?
22 MR. KOLBE: Be out of range of where he's
23 supposed to be. So I told him, on his behalf, I will
24 argue to you --
25 MR. STEWART: Okay.
114
1 MR. KOLBE: -- if you give him the
2 opportunity. Okay?
3 MR. STEWART: All right. Well, I'll make a
4 recommendation that 499 Colorado be postponed until the
5 November meeting.
6 MS. HOFMEISTER: I second.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. So this is postponed
8 until November?
9 Okay. Any -- any further discussion?
10 All in favor of the motion to postpone until
11 November, say "aye".
12 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
13 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
14 Hearing none. Motion passes.
15 Okay, sir.
16 MR. KOLBE: Next one is 118 Edison Street.
17 It's a single-family. This was before us last -- in --
18 in May. It's a dilapidated and dangerous structure.
19 It is occupied. Windows are boarded from the inside
20 and the out. The front gable is all but missing. The
21 front and north elevation -- windows are missing or
22 broken.
23 The roof, siding, soffits, trim, eaves are
24 rotted, several open and boarded windows. Overgrown,
25 debris, unkempt, debris everywhere. The property was
115
1 abated by the City in June of 2017. And you can see
2 there's a more -- a collection of debris that's coming.
3 The porch, guardrails and handrails are missing. Gas
4 meter was not found. The electric meter is on.
5 By the occupant, we were told that the gas
6 meter was in the basement.
7 They had a Property Maintenance Inspection
8 and a building permit and an electrical permit were
9 required and neither one have been applied for.
10 Therefore, our recommendation is to remain on the
11 demolition list.
12 MR. STEWART: If I may ask a question.
13 THE CHAIRPERSON: Of course.
14 MR. STEWART: At the last meeting, we said
15 that we'd postpone this. The windows were boarded from
16 the inside while they were living --
17 MR. KOLBE: Several of them were, yeah.
18 MR. STEWART: Okay. And there's been no
19 activity whatsoever?
20 MR. MORAN: None.
21 MR. KOLBE: None.
22 THE CHAIRPERSON: On some of these photos, it
23 looks like there are people inside.
24 MR. MORAN: There are.
25 MR. KOLBE: Oh, yes, it's occupied.
116
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: They're living --
2 MR. KOLBE: If you remember, 116 --
3 MR. STEWART: In the back --
4 MR. KOLBE: -- Edison was a parcel -- or
5 house that's on the same parcel in the back?
6 MS. HOFMEISTER: Yeah, it's in the back.
7 MR. STEWART: Uh-huh.
8 MR. KOLBE: And we kind of went around and
9 round, in trying to get something done. And, finally,
10 nothing was being done, it was ordered down. This one
11 is, you know, falling into the same shape.
12 MR. STEWART: Okay.
13 MR. KOLBE: You know, looking at the soffit
14 or the gable over the front door, there's got to be
15 some major issues taking place inside that house
16 because it's been that way for a long time.
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a motion?
18 MS. HOFMEISTER: A tree fell on the front of
19 that house and that tree laid on the top of that house
20 for about three years.
21 MR. STEWART: That's ten years ago.
22 MR. MORAN: The inside of the house is very
23 unsanitary. You've got mold conditions. It's in a
24 very sad state, with young -- at least one young child
25 living in there. And it's not a good situation for
117
1 anybody to be occupying this house.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a motion, please?
3 MR. COPE: I make a motion that
4 118 Edison Street remain on the demolition list.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a second?
6 MR. STEWART: Second.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any further discussion?
8 All in favor of the motion for demolition,
9 say "aye".
10 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
12 None. Motion carries.
13 MR. KOLBE: The next one is 653 Kinney. It's
14 a single-family residence. It's a vacant, dangerous
15 and dilapidated structure. It's open to trespass, the
16 front and side entry doors, garage, rear walk-out door
17 and windows. The siding, trim, roof, soffits, fascia
18 and windows are all dilapidated. It's overgrown,
19 debris, unkempt, animals undermining, and broken
20 windows. The porch is collapsing. The gas meter is
21 locked out and the electric meter is missing.
22 Our recommendation is to remain on the
23 demolition list.
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a motion, please?
25 MS. HOFMEISTER: I make a motion that
118
1 653 Kinney Street remains on the demolition list.
2 MR. COPE: Second.
3 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any additional discussion?
4 Hearing none, all in favor of the motion for
5 demolition, say "aye".
6 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
8 None. Motion passes.
9 MR. KOLBE: 77 Maines, single-family
10 residence, inspected on 8-2 of 2017. It is now
11 occupied. They have pulled all their permits,
12 finalized the plumbing, electrical and mechanical
13 permit. The building permit has expired. They have a
14 handrail that we can't, you know -- they need to put
15 the handrail up and then we can give them a C of C.
16 But, believe it or not --
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Isn't this the same
18 discussion we had last time?
19 MR. KOLBE: Yes. When we went to do the
20 inspection, we said, "You need the handrail on this."
21 You know, "Well, it's taking a while." And
22 he, basically, admitted, when he put the handrails on,
23 it took him about 45 minutes to do the other three
24 railings. It's put it on and get it inspected. But we
25 can't quite get them pushed over the line.
119
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Because I see the one
2 handrail.
3 MR. MORAN: I went by there this morning and
4 took a couple pictures. It's still not done. I
5 knocked on the door. There was a car there but nobody
6 answered. So I feel like we should just try to see if
7 we can issue this guy a citation and have him deal with
8 a judge on this. I don't know what we can do to get
9 him to get this completed and get it off our docket.
10 THE CHAIRPERSON: But, if we order it on the
11 demolition list, will that get their attention?
12 MR. KOLBE: At that point, it's going to have
13 to have another Property Maintenance Inspection.
14 MR. MORAN: And post a bond. I mean, the
15 handrail --
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: How do we motivate them,
17 then?
18 MR. MORAN: I think I told Dan, I should just
19 issue them a ticket for noncompliance.
20 THE CHAIRPERSON: This Board can't make a
21 motion on that.
22 MR. KOLBE: Well, basically, it would be a
23 postponement until -- or until a C of C is issued and
24 then dismissal or --
25 MR. MORAN: We can't dismiss it.
120
1 MR. STEWART: How long have we been dealing
2 with this?
3 MR. MORAN: Too long. Three years.
4 MR. KOLBE: Yes, too long.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: Could we -- should we just
6 make a motion, if work is not completed by November,
7 that it be on the demolition list?
8 MR. STEWART: I'll tell you what. Can we
9 just -- can we go ahead and condemn this property and
10 they come back before the Board?
11 THE CHAIRPERSON: Well, no. They're not
12 going to come back.
13 MR. KOLBE: They wouldn't come back before
14 you. It would be ordered down -- if you order it down,
15 they would have to do a rehab agreement and --
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: Post a bond and everything
17 else?
18 MR. KOLBE: Yeah.
19 MR. STEWART: I mean, this has been what, two
20 years?
21 MR. MORAN: Three years.
22 MR. KOLBE: And if you want to --
23 MR. MORAN: And it's a nice piece of
24 property. And, I mean, the guy, he's made a lot of
25 effort.
121
1 MR. KOLBE: A C of C --
2 MR. MORAN: You know, I'd hate for him to
3 have to post a bond.
4 MR. STEWART: So you could just write him
5 tickets?
6 MR. MORAN: I'll write him a ticket for
7 noncompliance and then let him explain to the judge and
8 pay the $100 fine.
9 THE CHAIRPERSON: Well, then let's just
10 postpone it until November.
11 MR. MORAN: And I'll issue a ticket.
12 THE CHAIRPERSON: That sounds like that's the
13 only way to motivate somebody.
14 MR. COPE: I'll make a motion that
15 77 Maines Street is postponed to our November 15th
16 meeting.
17 MS. HOFMEISTER: I second.
18 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any discussion?
19 Hearing none, all in favor, say "aye".
20 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
21 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
22 None. Motion passes.
23 MR. STEWART: A question for you. How often
24 can you issue tickets for noncompliance?
25 MR. MORAN: We can issue those every day. I
122
1 can go 100, 300, 500.
2 MR. STEWART: I said in between, what time
3 period?
4 MR. KOLBE: Typically, we don't.
5 MR. MORAN: Typically, we don't because they
6 just get thrown out anyways.
7 MR. KOLBE: We typically wait a month between
8 them so we would to -- tomorrow, we would issue him a
9 particular ticket for $100, 30 days it would be for
10 $300, 30 days after that for 500. At that point, we
11 can issue a ticket every day at $500.
12 MR. STEWART: So what do you mean, if I may
13 ask, and not holding the Board up, that it's usually
14 thrown out; what do you mean, the ticket?
15 MR. MORAN: A lot of them are.
16 MR. KOLBE: If the gap between them is too
17 close, they -- the Court does not like tickets just --
18 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. At what point do you
19 take them to court; after how many tickets? At some
20 point --
21 MR. KOLBE: The first ticket.
22 MR. MORAN: The first ticket.
23 MR. KOLBE: The first ticket goes to court.
24 MR. MORAN: They go to court. They have ten
25 days. It's just like a moving violation.
123
1 MR. KOLBE: A speeding ticket.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
3 MR. MORAN: It's a citation, you know, they
4 have ten days to appear.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. That's what I wanted
6 to know.
7 MR. MORAN: Ten days to appear.
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: That ought to motivate
9 them. Okay. Thank you.
10 Next one, please.
11 MR. KOLBE: Next one is
12 654 North Perry Street. It's a single-family
13 residence. It was inspected on 8-2 of 2017. It was a
14 vacant, dilapidated and dangerous property. The rear
15 elevation is still dilapidated, overgrown, debris,
16 unkempt, animals undermining a broken window. The
17 electric meter is on, the gas meter is gone.
18 She's almost done. She's got her permits.
19 Our recommendation is postponement until the November
20 Board of Appeals, if a confirmed commitment was made to
21 get this done. I mean, she's just about there.
22 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
23 MR. MORAN: She was in on the 11th of August
24 for an extension that Mike Wilson approved on her
25 permit.
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1 MR. KOLBE: Yeah. To today.
2 MR. COPE: So all permits are up to date?
3 MR. MORAN: Yeah, to today.
4 MR. COPE: Has there been any commitment on
5 her part --
6 MR. KOLBE: She --
7 MR. COPE: -- to get this done?
8 MR. KOLBE: -- has a plumbing inspection.
9 MR. MORAN: Plumbing on 8-15 --
10 MR. KOLBE: Yeah, it was yesterday.
11 MR. MORAN: -- it was disapproved at 4 --
12 MR. KOLBE: The gas meter was not on so she
13 didn't have hot water for a final plumbing.
14 MR. MORAN: She had five violations on a
15 plumbing inspection.
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: She has a plumber doing the
17 work; they're not doing it their-self, are they?
18 MR. KOLBE: No, she has a plumber.
19 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
20 MR. KOLBE: She has a contractor. But, when
21 he took care of the items, they were fairly minor
22 items. But one of the biggest one is there was no hot
23 water, which you're not going to pass your final
24 plumbing on. But that needs a gas meter to get
25 installed to do that.
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1 MR. COPE: I make a motion that 654 North
2 Perry Street is -- be postponed until our November 15th
3 meeting.
4 MS. HOFMEISTER: I'll second.
5 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any additional discussion?
6 Hearing none, all in favor of the motion, say
7 "aye".
8 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
9 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
10 None. Motion passes.
11 Excuse me. Did we skip over one?
12 MR. KOLBE: Yeah.
13 THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
14 MR. KOLBE: I just noticed it was out of
15 order here.
16 215 Nelson was a single-family residence,
17 inspected on 8-2 of 2017. It was a dangerous,
18 dilapidated and deteriorating structure. Broken and
19 boarded windows, roof is deteriorated. The roof,
20 doors, windows, siding, soffits and trim are rotted.
21 Porch is crumbling, boarded windows, it's overgrown,
22 debris, unkempt, animals undermining broken windows,
23 squatter reported in the house, animals in the attic,
24 handrails and guardrails are missing from the porch,
25 there has been work -- had been work being done without
126
1 permits. The gas meter is locked out and electric
2 meter is on.
3 They had pulled a Property Maintenance
4 Inspection. A building, plumbing and electrical permit
5 are needed. None of them have been applied for.
6 Our recommendation is to remain on the
7 demolition list, due to lack of progress or cleanup.
8 This house is one, if you remember from the
9 last meeting, the actual owner is deceased. There was
10 a Petitioner trying to get out of the probate court to
11 be able to get the house fixed and then do whatever she
12 wants to do with the house, whether it be sell -- sell
13 it or move into it or whatever.
14 Have not really heard from her or the
15 attorney that was with her since the last meeting.
16 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a motion from the
17 Board?
18 MR. COPE: I'll make a motion that we -- that
19 the house at 215 Nelson Street remain on the demolition
20 list.
21 MS. HOFMEISTER: I second.
22 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any further discussion?
23 All in favor of the motion for demolition,
24 say "aye".
25 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
127
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
2 None. Motion passes.
3 MR. KOLBE: 217 South Sanford, a
4 single-family residence, was inspected on 8-2 of 2017.
5 It's a vacant, dangerous, dilapidated structure, open
6 to trespass. The front door is -- is open. Roof,
7 siding, trim, soffits and fascia are all dilapidated.
8 Porch is settling, overgrown, debris, unkempt. Animals
9 undermining, again, broken windows. Abandoned vehicle,
10 missing handrails and guardrails. The gas meter is
11 locked out and the electric meter is off.
12 Our recommendation is to remain on the
13 demolition list.
14 MR. COPE: I make a motion that
15 217 South Sanford Street remain on the demolition list.
16 MS. HOFMEISTER: I second.
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay. Any additional
18 discussion?
19 MS. HOFMEISTER: Just, Dave, when you go out
20 to these houses, do you ever run into snakes?
21 MR. MORAN: I've seen them but nothing -- I
22 mean, it's Garter snakes.
23 MS. HOFMEISTER: Oh, God.
24 MR. MORAN: Nothing -- not like copperheads
25 or anything.
128
1 MR. KOLBE: Did you want us to collect them
2 for you or is there a reason why you --
3 MS. HOFMEISTER: No, I just --
4 MR. KOLBE: Do you like them?
5 MS. HOFMEISTER: God, all that over-brush,
6 I'd be afraid to step down into that stuff, maybe.
7 THE CHAIRPERSON: I think we had a second.
8 MS. HOFMEISTER: We did.
9 THE CHAIRPERSON: So is there a motion -- or
10 is there a vote, please?
11 All in favor of the motion for demolition,
12 say "aye".
13 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
14 THE CHAIRPERSON: Opposed?
15 None. Motion passes.
16 Sorry, I got distracted.
17 MR. KOLBE: 27 Steinbaugh Court,
18 single-family residence, was inspected on 8-2 of 2017.
19 It was vacant and boarded windows. Let me go down
20 here.
21 The electric meter is on, the gas meter is
22 not visible. The permits are all active. Progressing
23 slowly but is -- is progressing quite nicely. The
24 mechanical has been finalized and one of the two
25 building permits has been finalized.
129
1 Our recommendation is postponement, again, if
2 a commitment is there for completion. And, without
3 someone here, we don't really have that commitment. So
4 they are making progress. It would be nice if it was a
5 little bit faster but they are moving forward. You
6 can --
7 MR. COPE: What type of progress have you
8 seen?
9 What evidence do you have?
10 MR. KOLBE: Well, the permit's finalized, you
11 know.
12 THE CHAIRPERSON: Oh, it is?
13 MR. KOLBE: They're moving forward on the --
14 you know, some of the inspections. From the last time
15 it was here, the electric -- or the mechanical has been
16 finalized.
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Okay.
18 MR. COPE: That's the only thing?
19 MR. MORAN: All the exterior trim, windows,
20 exterior was painted.
21 MR. KOLBE: Oh, that's --
22 MR. MORAN: All that was replaced.
23 MR. KOLBE: But I'm saying, as far as permits
24 and inspections --
25 MR. MORAN: He has been making some good
130
1 headway there. It's just taking forever. I don't know
2 why. It would be nice for him to be here to make a
3 commitment to wrapping this project up.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a motion, please?
5 MS. HOFMEISTER: I make a motion we postpone
6 27 Steinbaugh Court until the 11-14 (sic) meeting.
7 MR. STEWART: I'll second that.
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there any additional
9 discussion?
10 All in favor of the motion, say "aye".
11 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
12 THE CHAIRPERSON: Motion pass -- any
13 objection?
14 Hearing none. Motion passes.
15 MR. KOLBE: 20 Utica is a single-family
16 residence, inspected on 8-2 of 2017. It's a vacant,
17 dangerous and dilapidated structure, is open to
18 trespass in the garage. The roof, siding, trim and
19 garage are dilapidated. It's overgrown, debris,
20 unkempt, animals undermining broken windows, large pile
21 of plaster in rear corner of porch, appears work is
22 being done without permits. Gas meter is locked out
23 and the electric meter is gone and the line cut.
24 Our recommendation is to remain on the
25 demolition list.
131
1 MR. COPE: I make a motion that 20 Utica
2 remain on the demolition list.
3 MS. HOFMEISTER: I second.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any additional discussion?
5 All in favor of the motion for demolition,
6 say "aye".
7 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
8 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
9 None. Motion passes.
10 MR. KOLBE: And 170 Whittemore Street is a
11 single-family residence. It was inspected on 8-2 of
12 2017. A vacant, dangerous and dilapidated structure.
13 The -- it's open to trespass. The front and east
14 elevation windows, garage and the side entry door are
15 all open.
16 Siding, roofing, trim, soffits and porch are
17 all dilapidated. It was overgrown, debris, unkempt,
18 animals undermining broken windows. Looks like someone
19 might be living in the garage. Grass was mowed by the
20 City. Missing handrails and foundation is cracking.
21 Gas meter is locked out and the electric meter is off.
22 Our recommendation is to remain on the
23 demolition list.
24 THE CHAIRPERSON: Is there a motion, please?
25 MS. HOFMEISTER: I'll make a recommendation
132
1 that 170 Whittemore remain on the demolition list.
2 THE CHAIRPERSON: Second, please?
3 MR. COPE: Second.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: All in favor of the -- any
5 further discussion?
6 All in favor of the motion for demolition,
7 say "aye".
8 BOARD MEMBERS: Aye.
9 THE CHAIRPERSON: Any opposed?
10 None. Motion passes.
11 MR. KOLBE: I would have taken more pictures
12 in that house but the stench was so bad.
13 THE CHAIRPERSON: That concludes this part of
14 the agenda. Are there any items of -- before from the
15 Board of Appeals, from staff or --
16 MS. HOFMEISTER: We have two more items.
17 THE CHAIRPERSON: Woops.
18 MS. HOFMEISTER: I do. 848 West Huron and
19 11 Mohawk.
20 MR. KOLBE: Those were all -- that was that
21 six-car garage.
22 MS. HOFMEISTER: Oh, okay.
23 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yes.
24 MR. KOLBE: Yeah, that was that six-car
25 garage.
133
1 THE CHAIRPERSON: Yeah, that was all taken
2 care of.
3 MS. HOFMEISTER: Good. Okay.
4 THE CHAIRPERSON: So, if there's nothing else
5 from the Board, I -- anybody in the public wish to make
6 any comments?
7 Okay. I would call for adjournment. 7:15.
8 Thank you.
9 (Meeting was concluded at 7:16 p.m.)
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1 C E R T I F I C A T E
2
3 I, Mona Storm, do hereby certify that I have
4 recorded stenographically the proceedings had and
5 testimony taken in the meeting at the time and place
6 hereinbefore set forth. I do further certify that the
7 foregoing transcript, consisting of (134) pages, is a
8 true and correct transcript of my said stenographic
9 notes.
10
__________________
11 Date
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12 Mona Storm
CSR-4460
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