~by Denise O’Brien Van
Jefferson got serious about the tattered and battered structures disfiguring the city’s neighborhoods in 2007.
Since then, 86 structures–houses, garages, sheds and commercial buildings– have been razed in the city. Two of the commercial buildings had been heavily damaged by fire, and had to be torn down. The rest of the structures were in the eyesore category.
And as much as eyesores distress their neighbors, substandard housing isn’t just unattractive. It’s a risk to the health, safety or physical well-being of its occupants and its neighbors and visitors.
When bad housing comes down, said former city housing official Mike Wright (who recently took a position with a local utility company), it can be the beginning of redevelopment. “It’s the opposite of the broken window theory,’” he said. “It can entice developers.
(The broken window theory posits that a broken window that remains unrepaired is an image of disorder that encourages incivility, telling residents and passersby that it doesn’t matter and that no one cares, which can encourage bad behavior and deterioration of the surrounding area. In Jefferson, some abandoned structures have been used by squatters.)
Many of the demolitions were funded through the Neighborhood Incentive Improvement Program NIIP), funded locally to the tune of $20,000 a year, and the federally funded Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), which was administered through the Region 12 Council of Governments (COG), of which Jefferson is a member.
The original NSP was funded in 2007 with a $560,000 federal grant. Due to the program’s success in Jefferson, the city eventually spent $1.2 million between 2008 and 2013 by accessing funds available to other Region 12 cities who didn’t use them. The federal funding expired in March 2013, but the city plans to continue with its own program by continuing to tear down subpar houses and sell the empty lots they sat on.
The buildings bulldozed between 2007 and 2013 were located throughout the city, with the exception of areas of newer housing development in the far west and far south sections. Ages of the structures ranged from more than 100 years old to several built in the mid-20th century.
Getting control of many of the properties was an arduous task, according to city manager Mike Palmer. Many were abandoned: Owners had simply walked away, or heirs to properties could not be found.
“Who do you buy it from?” he said. “One property sat for 10 years. It had been owned by banks from coast to coast, and the owner didn’t want it.”
Today, vacant residential lots dot the city where houses suffering from peeling paint, sagging roofs, broken windows, crumbling foundations, glassless windows and other conditions that bugged neighbors and passersby have been torn down, their basements filled in and their lots seeded.
Occasionally, next-door neighbors bought the eyesores and paid to have the houses torn down so they couldn’t be purchased and turned into substandard rental properties. The city will contribute $2,000 to defray demolition costs in these cases.
Some of the structures were replaced.
A brand new building has been built to replace an auto repair shop on East Lincoln Way that suffered extensive fire damage; and a new Subway took the place of a crumbling old service station and the battered rental house just west of it at the city’s main intersection–where Highway 4 and Lincoln Way cross.
A house and former grocery store razed at the intersection of Vine and Washington Streets will be replaced with the new Hy-Vee grocery store’s parking lot. Three ancient buildings on the east side of the 100 block of South Chestnut Street will be succeeded by the Thomas Jefferson Gardens, slated to bloom this summer.
Private developers built new houses where substandard housing once sat at 201 S. Oak St. and 505 S. Maple St.
Some properties were merely shabby, or messy. A visit from the city code inspector about a yard blemished with abandoned cars, construction waste and other junk usually results in a clean up, said Palmer. If the city has to do the clean it up, a lien is placed against the property. “We probably collect on about 75 percent of those,” he said.
Other properties needed only a little TLC, Palmer said, citing the bungalow at 505. W. Madison St., where improvements included new siding and windows and a deck. The property sold at market rates, and is now back on the tax rolls.
The federally funded NSP program is now finished–all of its funds have been used. The city continues to use moneys from its General Fund to support the NIIP. Using its code enforcement authority, the city is moving to resolve a problem property at 305 S. George St. If the owner doesn’t remove the ramshackle house, which hasn’t been occupied for years, Palmer said the city will use its money from its General Fund to level it and place a lien on the property to recover costs.
Payment of such liens helps reimburse the city’s costs, he said.
Using a recently negotiated $300,000 loan financed through Area 12, the city is continuing to upgrade Jefferson’s housing stock.
Much to the relief of neighbors, the city recently purchased a disheveled house with a broken foundation at 507 S. Locust St. It will be leveled, and a new house built in its place. If the property can’t be sold to a private developer, the city will act as the developer, asking for bids from general contractors for the project. Palmer said the new house, which will be designed to harmonize with nearby houses, will be sold at market value, which he expects to be between $160,000 and $170,000. When the house sells, the purchase price will go back into the $300,000 loan fund, which will continue to be used to upgrade salvageable houses and remove those that aren’t.
Wright said recently that nine houses remain on the list for tear downs.
The loan also will support the city’s purchase and demolition of a problem rental house at 407 W. Lincoln Way that has troubled neighbors for years because of police calls, accumulated trash and drug raids. The house, owned by a Carroll County bank, is in foreclosure after the owner’s death. The bank has agreed to sell it to the city for $10,000. City attorney Robert Schwarzkopf said he expects the house to be pulled down within the next two months.
Concerns about the house and the welfare of the children who lived there caused neighbors to call a meeting in July 2012 to which city councilwoman Lisa Jaskey was invited. The session became the impetus for her to begin thinking about beefing up the city’s housing code.
Next: Jefferson Stiffens its Housing Code
