City Commissioners voted unanimously during their Feb. 20 meeting to declare the property at 613 9th Ave. S. a nuisance.

The city’s code enforcement program is largely complaint driven and the city began receiving complaints about the property owned by James Welling, Jr. in May 2019.

Initial complaints were property maintenance violations, someone living in a tent and vehicles all over the property, according to staff.

City staff sent multiple letters of violation and notice to Welling that went unheeded.

A complaint was filed against Welling in Municipal Court for maintaining a public nuisance.

City staff continued to try contacting Welling by phone and mail, but were unsuccessful.

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The city’s building safety division requested entry onto the property and into the home to assess the violations in April 2023.

They were denied so the city obtained a search warrant for an onsite inspection in September 2023, but were unable to conduct a full inspection of the inside of residence due to the debris blocking a safe pathway, according to city staff.

The residential structure, garage and a temporary shelter behind them appeared to be dilapidated and unsafe but providing a place for vagrants and homeless individuals and possible illegal activity, according to staff. The exterior of the property has a large amount of debris and at least three vehicles illegally parked on the property.

Now that the commission has declared the property a nuisance under city code, the city can force cleanup.

City staff said the total cost of the abatement is unknown but will be funded by the city hazard removal fund.

Brock Cherry, city planning director, told commissioners that COVID delayed enforcement efforts, but staff has tried to contact Welling for nearly five years.

“We have done our due diligence,” he said during the Feb. 20 meeting.

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Cherry said staff has reason to believe the property is a source of blight and creates safety issues for anyone inhabiting the property, thought staff didn’t observe anyone living there during their visits from the public right of way or the inspection.

Jeff Joy has owned the property next door since the 1990s. He said he’s moved out but rents the property to family members.

He told commissioners that he couldn’t think of Welling making any efforts to maintain or improve the property and that they had left years ago. Joy said that he’s seen people rummaging through things there, seen people living on the property and at one point he called police about a transient on the property who then got into an altercation with officers.

Joy told commissioners that the property is “terrible looking, terrible to the neighborhood” and dangerous.

He said he wants to sell the property but is at risk of not being able to get a fair market value because of the nuisance property.

Cherry said that since the commission declared the property a nuisance, staff will review what’s needed to abate the violations and safety issues.

He said the city may have to hire contractors and the city has a fund for such situations and once the issues are resolved, the city would put a lien on the property to recoup its costs.

Rachel Taylor, deputy city attorney, said that once commissioners approved the nuisance, the Welling would be notified and have another 10 days to start and 30 days to finish correcting the violations.

She told commissioners that when they executed the search warrant, no one was living on the property, but whether it was livable was debatable.

She said the city’s intent is to clean out the debris, remove the blight and secure the property to close it to transients.