Terms such as “dangerous,” “deteriorated” and “unfit for human occupancy” are being used to describe three buildings in Mount Airy which are prompting city officials to draw a line in the sand — including demolition.
The structures are located in a well-traveled, high-visibility part of town where South, Pine and Franklin streets converge near Mill Creek General Store.
Included are the former Koozies/Quality Mills location at 455 Franklin St; the former Mittman body shop at 109 S. South St.; and what is referred to in municipal documents as the “red building” at 600 W. Pine St. beside Worth Honda.
All three have been declared in violation of municipal building codes and “unfit for human occupancy” by Chuck Morris, city codes enforcement officer.
During a meeting Thursday night, the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners was expected to approve ordinances giving the respective property owners 90 days to repair or demolish the structures, which includes vacating any occupants or personal property.
After that May 18 deadline, if owners have failed to act, the commissioners — at a date of their choosing — can direct the codes officer to facilitate demolition. The process includes placing notices at each site prohibiting human occupancy.
The sprawling former Koozies building, the name of a former private club there, which borders Franklin, South and West Pine streets — once the site of a thriving Quality Mills facility — has drawn particular concern recently.
Firefighters responded to a blaze there in late November which had been set by a homeless man. This prompted Fire Chief Zane Poindexter to recommend that the building be torn down as soon as possible due to public safety hazards posed by its dilapidated condition and the presence of vagrants.
Exhaustive efforts
A paper trail taking up more than 40 pages of hearing notices, letters to owners and photographs of buildings’ deteriorating state collectively covering a period of nearly three years was assembled by the city codes officer ahead of Thursday night’s meeting.
Those materials document extensive efforts by Morris to have the property owners take corrective action on their own, which they have failed to do, he reports.
The former Koozies building is deemed to be the most problematic of the three sites, specifically posing an “imminent danger” under the codes administrator’s determination. That designation means the property is prohibited from being accessed except to secure it, make repairs to alleviate the hazardous conditions or tear down the structure.
Official efforts to address the Koozies site have been ongoing since 2019, when the property was owned by an entity called JHS Master Capital in Fayetteville.
In July of that year, an order was issued requiring the owner to bring the structure up to code or demolish it within 90 days.
But in September 2019, the property was bought by National Decon Holdings, LLC, in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, which is its present owner.
National Decon Holdings was sent a condemnation order that October and given until December of 2019 to correct the situation and was warned that the city government could take appropriate action to recover the costs of any “emergency work” it had to undertake.
No such activity has occurred either there or the other two structures targeted by city officials.
The large red building at 600 W. Pine St. contiguous to Worth Honda also has been in the regulatory cross-hairs since 2019, including a hearing process dating to May of that year.
John L. Worth, who is deceased, is listed as the owner of the site, with the matter falling to his widow.
Due to its size and logistics associated with demolition, the owner was given until November 2020 to either make corrections to the building or tear it down, which is yet to occur.
A similar impasse has transpired with the former Mittman’s Paint and Body Shop at 109 S. South St., according to city documents.
Efforts began in 2021 to rectify that situation, to no avail.
John Mittman, who ran the shop, is deceased and the property presently is owned by Gloria Mittman McNeil and Amy White, both of Lewisville.
If the municipality winds up razing any or all of the buildings, it can sell materials salvaged from the demolition and apply that to the costs incurred.
In addition, liens can be filed to prevent the sale of properties until such debts are satisfied.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com