City Commissioners voted unanimously during their April 21 meeting to declare 1915 6th Ave. N. a nuisance.

The city has been receiving complaints about the property since 2020 and the house was deemed a total loss after a January 2021 fire.

City Commissioners declared the property a nuisance in September 2021 and the city planning department used $22,850 of hazard abatement funds to address issues on the property in 2022.

Since then, Emily Moore, the property owner, and her adult children have continued using the property with ongoing nuisances, according to city staff.

Reported issues include noncompliant vehicles, debris, trash, salvage materials, construction of an unpermitted addition above the garage, and installation of a wood stove with a stack that poses a fire hazard to the property and neighboring properties, according to the staff report.

City Commission declares nuisance property

Moore and her adult children “appear to be illegally occupying the property in campers, an unpermitted structure and a van,” according to city staff.

City staff obtained a search warrant in February to enter the property and confirmed the continued violations.

Story continues below.

During the April 21 meeting, Brock Cherry, city planning director, said that the Great Falls Police Department had been called regarding the property 377 times, dating back to 1977.

The property was damaged by a 2021 fire, for which a woman who was living in the house at the time, was charged with a felony count of arson and multiple felony counts of criminal endangerment. The fire killed two dogs in the house.

Lynn Parisian was sentenced on the arson charge in 2022 and is currently on probation, according to the Montana Department of Corrections.

Dakota Wyatt, who lives three houses down, told commissioners that during the three years he’d lived there, he’d called the police at least 20 times, mostly for domestic disputes that the entire neighborhood can hear.

He said the property has been a problem for the neighborhood, is an eyesore and a safety concern.

Moore, the property owner, said she’d own the property with her now deceased husband for nearly 40 years.

City declares nuisance for property that caught fire twice within a year, with multiple code violations [2025]

She said they’d been having trouble with the city and that it was difficult to move things because her truck broke down.

“You people just don’t understand,” she said.

Moore said the city’s code enforcement office is constantly bothering her and that Wyatt and neighbors should mind their own business.

Shannon Kelly, her son, said that he helps neighbors and goes to work.

“I don’t bother nobody, I don’t do no crime there,” he told commissioners.

Commissioner Shannon Wilson moved to adopt the resolution and Commissioner Rick Tryon seconded.

Wilson said that she sympathized with Moore’s situation, but that the family had been given quite a bit of time to correct the issues and still had 30 days.

City declares vacant property nuisance [2024]

She said it was “horrific” for the neighbors to experience and the number of police calls to the property was “stunning.”

Tryon asked Great Falls Fire Rescue Chief Jeremy Virts if he considered the stove a fire hazard. Virts said yes.

Tryon said he would vote to declare the property a nuisance since it appeared to be a public safety and health issue.

After commission approval, Moore has 30 days to bring the property into compliance. If that doesn’t happen, the city will continue with abatement, including estimates from local contractors for the removal of non-compliant vehicles, rubbish, and exterior storage, as well as the demolition of the unpermitted structure and the structurally compromised garage and foundation, according to city staff.